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Table 3 Carotid artery magnetic resonance imaging measures in study participants

From: Carotid artery volumetric measures associate with clinical ten-year cardiovascular (CV) risk scores and individual traditional CV risk factors in rheumatoid arthritis; a carotid-MRI feasibility study

Carotid artery variable

Patients with RA, n = 64

Controls, n = 24

Unadjusted differences in RA group from controls

Mean difference adjusted for age and sex

Mean difference adjusted for age, sex and CV risk factorsb

Mean (95% CI)

P value

B (95% CI)

P value

B (95%)

P value

Mean wall thickness, mm

1.051 (0.125)

1.029 (0.129)

0.022 (− 0.038, 0.082)

0.460

0.002 (− 0.060, 0.064)

0.940

−0.009 (− 0.079, 0.060)

0.790

Minimum wall thickness, mm

0.747 (0.096)

0.718 (0.107)

0.029 (− 0.019, 0.076)

0.230

0.013 (− 0.036, 0.063)

0.591

0.000 (− 0.056, 0.056)

0.990

Maximum wall thickness, mm

1.498 (0.330)

1.530 (0.311)

− 0.031 (− 0.186, 0.123)

0.688

− 0.050 (− 0.217, 0.118)

0.556

− 0.045 (− 0.237, 0.148)c

0.646

Wall volumea, ul

234.528 (45.187) (n = 60)

225.613 (46.751)

8.914 (−13.010, 30.839)

0.421

−5.053 (−26.236, 16.131)

0.636

−5.479 (−28.979, 18.021)

0.644

Luminal volumea, ul

383.408 (116.277) (n = 60)

368.753 (105.625)

14.655 (−39.82, 69.135)

0.594

−0.430 (−55.585, 54.726)

0.988

−8.792 (−71.799, 54.215)

0.782

Wall volume indexeda

0.385(0.046) (n = 60)

0.385 (0.040)

0.001 (− 0.020, 0.022)

0.930

0.001 (−0.023, 0.024)

0.963

0.001 (−0.026, 0.027)

0.952

Wall volume indexed/BSA

0.216 (0.036) (n = 60)

0.221 (0.032)

−0.005 (− 0.021, 0.012)

0.567

− 0.11 (− 0.029, 0.006)

0.201

−0.008 (− 0.028, 0.012)

0.430

  1. CV cardiovascular, BSA body surface area, RA rheumatoid arthritis
  2. aOf 6 mm length of carotid artery. Carotid wall volume indexed calculated by carotid wall volume/(carotid wall volume + luminal volume)
  3. bCV risk factors defined as: hypertension (history of hypertension or anti-hypertensive agent), dyslipidaemia (history of dyslipidaemia, on lipid-lowering medication or total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio > 6), ever smoked and family history of premature cardiovascular disease
  4. cHeteroskedasticity of residuals therefore robust standard errors employed to compensate