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Table 1 Characteristics of patients with axial spondyloarthritis (N = 1776) stratified by the number of comorbidities

From: The prevalence and impact of comorbidities on patients with axial spondyloarthritis: results from a nationwide population-based study

 

Total, N = 1776 (100%)

Number of comorbidities*

P value

0, N = 315 (17%)

1–2, N = 741 (41%)

3–4, N = 439 (25%)

≥ 5, N = 281

(17%)

Female sex (%)

46.4

38.6

49.2

49.1

43.0

0.0046

Age, years (mean ± SEM)

56.1 ± 0.1

45.4 ± 0.6

53.8 ± 0.4

60.3 ± 0.5

65.9 ± 0.5

< 0.0001

Symptom duration, years (mean ± SEM)

25.3 ± 0.3

18.9 ± 0.7

24.3 ± 0.5

28.2 ± 0.7

30.2 ± 0.9

< 0.0001

Duration since diagnosis, years (mean ± SEM)

19.5 ± 0.3

14.2 ± 0.6

18.4 ± 0.5

22.0 ± 0.6

24.1 ± 0.9

< 0.0001

In rheumatologic care (%)

45.6

51.6

44.1

44.6

44.5

0.1578

HLA-B27-positive (%)

86.1

87.8

88.7

83.2

79.8

0.0211

Psoriasis (ever, %)

15.0

8.5

15.7

15.4

19.0

0.0047

IBD (ever, %)

8.8

10.8

6.6

9.8

10.8

0.0618

Uveitis (ever, %)

27.3

24.7

27.7

29.1

26.6

0.6134

BASDAI, 0–10 (mean ± SEM)

4.5 ± 0.0

3.7 ± 0.1

4.3 ± 0.1

4.8 ± 0.1

5.2 ± 0.1

< 0.0001

BASFI, 0–10 (mean ± SEM)

4.1 ± 0.1

2.7 ± 0.1

3.7 ± 0.1

4.7 ± 0.1

5.6 ± 0.1

< 0.0001

Body mass index, kg/m2 (mean ± SEM)

26.9 ± 0.1

25.2 ± 0.2

26.2 ± 0.2

28.2 ± 0.2

28.8 ± 0.3

< 0.0001

WHO-5 Well-being Index, 0–100 (mean ± SEM)

44.7 ± 0.5

47.4 ± 1.2

45.5 ± 0.8

44.5 ± 1.1

40.2 ± 1.3

0.0005

Smoking (current, %)

18.6

22.1

21.0

15.3

13.9

0.0076

Suffering from stress (%)

39.3

46.2

43.3

37.3

25.2

< 0.0001

Lack of exercise (%)

24.3

20.5

20.8

28.8

30.8

0.0004

Full-time employment (%)

31.1

54.3

38.5

19.8

6.2

< 0.0001

Household income, € (%)

 < 1500

26.2

18.1

25.1

24.1

40.2

< 0.0001

 1500–3200

55.9

54.3

54.6

60.0

54.2

 > 3200

17.9

27.6

20.4

15.8

5.6

Pharmacotherapy (%)

77.9

75.5

75.8

79.2

83.4

0.0452

 NSAIDs

59.0

56.7

60.5

60.5

55.3

0.3413

 Non-opioid analgesics

22.5

16.7

17.8

28.1

31.5

< 0.0001

 Opioids

16.0

8.9

12.3

17.3

30.5

< 0.0001

 bDMARDs

16.9

26.0

19.7

11.8

8.6

< 0.0001

 csDMARDs

13.6

13.5

14.5

13.1

12.2

0.7783

 Steroids

19.7

12.1

17.9

23.7

25.8

< 0.0001

Physical therapy (%)

52.1

46.6

45.5

57.9

65.2

< 0.0001

Number of pharmaceuticals (mean ± SEM)

7.2 ± 0.1

3.7 ± 0.1

5.9 ± 0.1

8.2 ± 0.2

11.9 ± 0.3

< 0.0001

Number of pharmaceuticals** (mean ± SEM)

5.6 ± 0.1

2.5 ± 0.1

4.3 ± 0.1

6.4 ± 0.2

9.9 ± 0.3

< 0.0001

  1. *Defined by the Elixhauser coding algorithms excluding rheumatoid arthritis/collagen vascular diseases and including osteoporosis and fibromyalgia. **excluding axSpA-related medication. P values < 0.05 are shown in bold
  2. AxSpA axial spondyloarthritis, BASDAI Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index, BASFI Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index, bDMARDs biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, csDMARDs conventional synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, IBD inflammatory bowel disease, NSAIDs non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, SEM standard error of the mean