Table 2

Established cardiovascular risk factors in 40 patients with early rheumatoid arthritis and in 40 control individuals

Variable
Rheumatoid arthritis patients
Control individuals
P value

Cholesterol (mmol/l)a
5.0 (1.0)
5.1 (1.0)
0.84
Triglyceride (mmol/l)a
1.4 (0.9)
1.4 (0.9)
0.92
low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (mmol/l)a
2.8 (0.7)
3.0 (0.9)
0.80
high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (mmol/l)a
1.5 (0.4)
1.5 (0.4)
0.87
Body mass index (kg/m2)a
28 (7.6)
28 (5.7)
0.96
Smoking, everb
26 (65)
24 (60)
0.64
History of hypertensionb
7 (18)
11 (28)
0.28
History of diabetes mellitusb
5 (12)
5 (12)
1
History of hypercholesterolemiab
3 (8)
6 (15)
0.29
History of myocardial infarctionb
1 (2)
0
-
History of anginab
2 (5)
0
-
History of stroke and/or transient ischaemic attackb
1 (2)
0
-
Family history of cardiovascular diseaseb
6 (15)
10 (25)
0.26
Systolic blood pressureb
122 (24)
124 (18)
0.55
Diastolic blood pressureb
74 (10)
77 (9.6)
0.19
10-year coronary riskb
10(8.7)
9.1(7.4)
0.56

Data presented as amean (standard deviation) or bn (%).

Hannawi et al. Arthritis Research & Therapy 2007 9:R116   doi:10.1186/ar2323