Cardiovascular disease risk factors among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with or without atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD) and with or without diabetes mellitus (DM)
| RA cases without atherosclerotic CVD | P value* | RA cases with atherosclerotic CVD | P value* | |||||||
| DM, n=1012 | No DM, n=8097 | DM, n=369 | No DM, n=1065 | |||||||
| Data available | Data available | Data available | Data available | |||||||
| n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | |||||||
| Glucose metabolism | ||||||||||
| Glucose (mmol/L), median (IQR) | 7.1 (5.8–9.0) | 481 (47.5) | 5.1 (4.7–5.6) | 3065 (37.9) | <0.001 | 7.1 (5.7–8.6) | 224 (60.7) | 5.4 (4.9–5.9) | 593 (55.7) | <0.001 |
| HbA1c (mmol/mol), median (IQR) | 50 (42–61) | 386 (38.1) | 36 (32–39) | 1179 (14.6) | <0.001 | 49 (42–58) | 171 (46.3) | 37 (32–40) | 142 (13.3) | <0.001 |
| Lipids (mmol/L) | ||||||||||
| Total cholesterol, mean (SD) | 4.7 (1.0) | 639 (63.1) | 5.1 (1.1) | 4476 (55.3) | <0.001 | 4.2 (1.1) | 272 (73.7) | 4.7 (1.2) | 694 (65.2) | <0.001 |
| LDL cholesterol, mean (SD) | 2.6 (0.9) | 642 (63.4) | 2.9 (0.9) | 4295 (53.0) | <0.001 | 2.1 (0.8) | 257 (69.6) | 2.6 (1.0) | 640 (60.0) | <0.001 |
| HDL cholesterol, mean (SD) | 1.4 (0.4) | 651 (64.3) | 1.6 (0.5) | 4291 (53.0) | <0.001 | 1.3 (0.5) | 256 (69.3) | 1.5 (0.5) | 642 (60.3) | <0.001 |
| Triglycerides, median (IQR) | 1.5 (1.1–2.1) | 656 (64.8) | 1.2 (0.9–1.6) | 4382 (54.1) | <0.001 | 1.5 (1.1–2.1) | 270 (73.2) | 1.3 (1.0–1.7) | 656 (61.6) | <0.001 |
| Blood pressure (mm Hg) | ||||||||||
| Systolic, median (IQR) | 130 (120–140) | 782 (77.3) | 125 (115–137) | 5726 (70.7) | <0.001 | 130 (120–143) | 320 (86.7) | 129 (118–140) | 880 (82.6) | 0.077 |
| Diastolic, median (IQR) | 75 (69–80) | 777 (76.8) | 78 (70–83) | 5691 (70.3) | 0.003 | 72 (64–80) | 316 (85.6) | 76 (68–80) | 870 (81.7) | 0.015 |
| BMI (kg/m2), median (IQR) | 29 (25–34) | 793 (78.4) | 27 (24–30) | 6051 (74.7) | <0.001 | 29 (25–34) | 305 (82.7) | 27 (24–31) | 876 (82.3) | <0.001 |
| BMI <30, n (%) | 452 (57.0) | 4393 (72.6) | 173 (56.7) | 619 (70.7) | ||||||
| BMI ≥30, n (%) | 341 (43.0) | 1658 (27.4) | 132 (43.3) | 257 (29.3) | ||||||
| Physical activity | 300 (29.6) | 2754 (34.0) | 90 (24.4) | 333 (31.3) | ||||||
| Less than moderate, n (%) | 154 (51.4) | 1126 (40.9) | 42 (46.7) | 151 (45.3) | ||||||
| Moderate, n (%) | 104 (34.7) | 1132 (41.1) | 0.002 | 39 (43.3) | 144 (43.2) | 0.926 | ||||
| More than moderate, n (%) | 42 (14.0) | 496 (18.0) | 9 (10.0) | 38 (11.4) | ||||||
| Smoking | 941 (93.0) | 7418 (91.6) | 345 (93.5) | 984 (92.4) | ||||||
| Current, n (%) | 122 (13.0) | 1273 (17.2) | 45 (13.0) | 163 (16.6) | ||||||
| Previous, n (%) | 213 (22.6) | 1608 (21.7) | 0.005 | 128 (34.7) | 335 (34.0) | 0.257 | ||||
| Never, n (%) | 606 (64.4) | 4537 (61.2) | 172 (49.9) | 486 (49.4) | ||||||
For categorical variables, valid percentages are reported.
Physical activity: moderate (walking or equivalent) 30 min 3–5 times per week; less than moderate, less than this; more than moderate, more than this. Significant p values are highlighted in bold.
*χ2 test for frequencies and Mann-Whitney U test for continuous variables.
BMI, body mass index; HbA1c, glycosylated haemoglobin A1c; HDL, high-density lipoprotein; LDL, low-density lipoprotein.