Biologics and cardiovascular events in inflammatory arthritis: a prospective national cohort study

Table 3 Unadjusted univariate Cox proportional hazards regression for factors predicting cardiovascular events in patients with inflammatory arthritis (n = 4140)

Factor	HR	95% CI	p value
Increased age (years)	1.05	1.06–1.07	< 0.0001
Greater disease duration (years)	1.02	1.02–1.02	< 0.0001
Sex (males vs females)	1.44	1.33–1.55	< 0.0001
Biologic use (referent: biologic naïve)			< 0.0001
Current TNF biologics	0.63	0.58–0.70	< 0.0001
Current other biologics	0.69	0.60–0.80	< 0.0001
Stopped taking biologics	0.97	0.85–1.10	0.59
Diagnosis (referent: rheumatoid arthritis)			< 0.0001
Ankylosing spondylitis	0.61	0.53–0.70	< 0.0001
Psoriatic arthritis	0.75	0.64–0.88	0.0004
Methotrexate treatment (referent: never)			< 0.0001
Currently taking methotrexate	1.37	1.18–1.59	< 0.0001
Stopped taking methotrexate	1.56	1.34–1.82	< 0.0001
Prednisone/prednisolone treatment (referent: never)			< 0.0001
Currently taking prednisone	1.35	1.22–1.49	< 0.0001
Stopped taking prednisone	0.85	0.76–0.95	0.003
NSAID treatment vs not currently taking	1.19	1.10–1.28	< 0.0001
Smoking regularly ever	1.50	1.39–1.62	< 0.0001
Alcohol use (referent: never)			< 0.0001
Sometimes	0.64	0.59–0.69	< 0.0001
Every day	0.85	0.76–0.95	0.01
Hypertension (referent: no)			< 0.0001
Positive history for hypertension	2.21	2.04–2.41	< 0.0001
Hyperlipidaemia (referent: no)			< 0.0001
Positive history for hyperlipidaemia	2.39	2.22–2.59	< 0.0001
Diabetes (referent: no)			< 0.0001
Positive history for diabetes	1.98	1.80–2.18	< 0.0001
Higher HAQ^a	1.83	1.74–1.92	< 0.0001

HR hazard ratio, CI confidence interval, HAQ Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Score, NSAID non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, TNF tumour necrosis factor
^aRange 0–3, where higher scores indicate greater functional impairment

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