Table 1 |
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|
Clinical characteristics of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and control subjects. |
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| Characteristic |
Patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (n = 89) |
Patients with long-standing rheumatoid arthritis (n = 66) |
Control subjects (n = 85) |
P valuea |
|
|
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| Demographic variables |
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| Age in years |
51 (43–59) |
57 (48–65) |
52 (44–58) |
0.002 |
| Female gender, n (percentage) |
57 (64%) |
49 (74%) |
55 (65%) |
0.35 |
| Caucasian, n (percentage) |
81 (91%) |
57 (86%) |
72 (84%) |
0.51 |
| Components of the Framingham risk scoreb |
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| Total cholesterol (mg/dl) |
182 (156–210) |
188 (149–211) |
195 (171–216) |
0.22 |
| Smoking, n (percentage) |
19 (21.4%) |
20 (30.3%) |
8 (9.4%) |
0.004 |
| High-density lipoprotein (mg/dl) |
41 (37–53) |
46 (40–56) |
45 (39–54) |
0.16 |
| Systolic blood pressure (mm Hg) |
128 (116–139) |
138 (124–150) |
128 (115–136) |
0.001 |
| Framingham risk score (units) |
11 (8–14) |
14 (11–18) |
12 (7–14) |
<0.001 |
| Ten-year risk of a cardiovascular event |
2% (1%–6%) |
6% (2%–11%) |
2% (1%–8%) |
0.006 |
| Other cardiovascular risk factors |
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| Family history of coronary heart disease, n (percentage) |
23 (26%) |
19 (29%) |
26 (31%) |
0.78 |
| Body mass index (kg/m2) |
28 (25–34) |
28 (24–31) |
27 (25–32) |
0.51 |
| Low-density lipoprotein (mg/dl) |
111 (93–135) |
114 (83–135) |
122 (104–145) |
0.07 |
| Lp(a) lipoprotein (mg/dl) |
8.1 (2.0–24.6) |
8.7 (4.0–23.2) |
9.9 (4.0–32.3) |
0.24 |
| Triglycerides (mg/dl) |
108 (78–141) |
111 (81–172) |
103 (74–135) |
0.43 |
| Homocysteine (μmol/l) |
9.5 (8.1–11.4) |
10.7 (8.1–12.3) |
8.2 (7.1–9.6) |
<0.001 |
|
|
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|
aP values were calculated using Fisher's exact test for categorical variables and Wilcoxon rank sum test for continuous variables; bOther than age and gender. Continuous values are presented as median (interquartile range). |
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|
Chung et al. Arthritis Research & Therapy 2006 8:R186 doi:10.1186/ar2098 |
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