Table 3

HR with 95% CI of developing RA among subjects with different alcohol consumption habits, stratified by age and smoking habits

Alcohol consumption	Age <60 years				Age >60 years
Alcohol consumption	N	Person years	Incident RA (%)	HR (95% CI)*	N	Person years	Incident RA (%)	HR (95% CI)*
None	2717	49 994	51 (1.9)	1.0 (reference)	2758	41 928	52 (1.9)	1.0 (reference)
Low	11 147	207 777	149 (1.3)	0.72 (0.52–0.99)	6614	104 112	113 (1.7)	0.75 (0.55–1.04)
Moderate	6501	121 636	78 (1.2)	0.63 (0.44–0.91)	2534	40 890	39 (1.5)	0.66 (0.44–0.99)
High	6816	127 736	67 (1.0)	0.53 (0.36–0.77)	1981	32 514	28 (1.4)	0.55 (0.35–0.87)
				P for trend 0.01				P for trend 0.02
Alcohol consumption	Ever smokers				Never smokers
Alcohol consumption	N	Person years	Incident RA (%)	HR (95% CI)†	N	Person years	Incident RA (%)	HR (95% CI)†
None	1040	16 920	35 (3.4)	1.0 (reference)	4435	75 002	68 (1.5)	1.0 (reference)
Low	6566	113 202	129 (2.0)	0.60 (0.41–0.88)	11 195	198 686	133 (1.2)	0.81 (0.60–1.09)
Moderate	4130	73 387	67 (1.6)	0.49 (0.32–0.73)	4905	89 149	50 (1.0)	0.71 (0.49–1.03)
High	4701	84 869	58 (1.2)	0.38 (0.25–0.58)	4096	75 381	37 (0.9)	0.67 (0.44–0.99)
				P for trend 0.001				P for trend 0.03

Significant HRs are in bold.
Low alcohol consumption (<30 g/week among women and <51 g/week among men); moderate alcohol consumption (30–65 g/week among women and 51–104 g/week among men); high alcohol consumption (>65 g/week among women and >104 g/week among men).
*Adjusted for gender, educational status, smoking, body mass index, physical activity and cardiovascular disease.
†Adjusted for gender, educational status, body mass index, physical activity and cardiovascular disease.
RA, rheumatoid arthritis.