Baseline characteristics of patients with RA who did not develop any CVD or who developed a VTE or an ASCVD as the first CVD*
| Variables | No VTE or ASCVD, n=29 179 | VTE as first CVD, n=539 | ASCVD as first CVD, n=1648 | P value for VTE vs ASCVD |
| Age, years | 58.9 (13.6)† | 66.5 (12.0) | 71.8 (10.3) | <0.001 |
| Woman, % | 82.2‡ | 79.4 | 71.4 | <0.001 |
| Caucasian, % | 94.6‡ | 93.5 | 97.5 | <0.001 |
| RA duration, years | 15.4 (11.1)† | 19.6 (13.0) | 19.4 (13.5) | 0.843 |
| BMI, kg/m2 | 28.5 (6.4)† | 30.4 (7.8) | 27.0 (5.6) | <0.001 |
| Obesity, % | 28.8† | 40.6 | 24.0 | <0.001 |
| Exercise, % | 9.4† | 8.0 | 14.1 | 0.002 |
| RDCI (0–9) | 1.8 (0.6)† | 2.7 (1.8) | 2.2 (1.6) | <0.001 |
| Ever smoked, % | 40.8‡ | 43.4 | 46.5 | 0.206 |
| Diabetes, % | 9.8† | 17.4 | 15.3 | 0.235 |
| Hypertension, % | 28.5† | 49.4 | 47.3 | 0.432 |
| Pulmonary disease, % | 6.0† | 13.4§ | 11.8 | 0.356 |
| Chronic kidney disease, % | 7.4 | 12.1 | 14.5 | 0.189 |
| Prior fracture, %¶ | 2.4† | 10.1 | 7.7 | 0.189 |
| Prior cancer, %¶ | 7.6† | 15.7 | 15.0 | 0.737 |
| Recent hospitalisation, %** | 7.3† | 8.1 | 10.1 | 0.001 |
| Recent surgeries, %** | 3.1 | 4.1 | 5.9 | 0.004 |
| HAQ disability (0–3) | 1.1 (0.7)† | 1.4 (0.7) | 1.4 (0.8) | 0.661 |
| PAS (0–10) | 4.0 (2.3)† | 4.6 (2.1) | 4.5 (2.3) | 0.697 |
| Glucocorticoid current, % | 33.7† | 50.9 | 46.2 | 0.063 |
| Glucocorticoid ever, % | 71.8† | 84.9 | 79.5 | 0.006 |
| Methotrexate, % | 47.6† | 49.4 | 48.5 | 0.743 |
| Hydroxychloroquine, % | 20.3† | 17.9 | 15.1 | 0.123 |
| TNFi, % | 30.2† | 36.5 | 33.2 | 0.161 |
| Other b/tsDMARDs, % | 8.9† | 11.9 | 3.9 | <0.001 |
| NSAID, % | 49.0† | 38.2 | 43.8 | 0.023 |
| Aspirin, % | 14.3† | 22.4 | 26.9 | 0.038 |
| Statin, % | 12.9† | 26.9 | 20.0 | 0.001 |
| Oestrogen, % | 15.9† | 11.5 | 11.9 | 0.878 |
*The values are mean (SD) unless indicated otherwise.
†P<0.01 for no CVD versus VTE or ASCVD.
‡P<0.01 for no CVD versus ASCVD.
§Pulmonary disease excluding pulmonary emboli.
¶Prior fracture and cancer diagnosis >1 year before cohort entry and not on active treatment.
**Recent hospitalisation or surgery within the last 6 months.
ASCVD, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease; BMI, body mass index; b/tsDMARDs, biological or targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs; CVD, cardiovascular disease; HAQ, Health Assessment Questionnaire; NSAID, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug; PAS, Patient Activity Scale; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; RDCI, Rheumatic Diseases Comorbidity Index; TNFi, tumour necrosis factor-α inhibitor; VTE, venous thromboembolism.