Table 1.
Characteristics of patients with rheumatic IMIDs compared with healthy controls
| Patients (n=2135) |
Healthy controls (n=899) |
|||
| Patient characteristics | ||||
| Mean age (years) | 58±13 | 56±13 | ||
| Female sex, no. (%) | 1402 | (66) | 612 | (68) |
| Caucasian race, no. (%)* | 1814 | (89) | 795 | (92) |
| Education level, no. (%)* | ||||
| High | 961 | (48) | 488 | (59) |
| Medium | 622 | (31) | 225 | (27) |
| Low | 430 | (21) | 121 | (15) |
| Comorbidity, no. (%) | ||||
| Chronic pulmonary disease | 257 | (12) | 49 | (6) |
| Cardiovascular disease | 289 | (14) | 65 | (7) |
| Diabetes | 127 | (6) | 28 | (3) |
| Obesity | 354 | (17) | 86 | (10) |
| Anticoagulant medication, no. (%) | 295 | (14) | 80 | (9) |
| Currently smoking, no. (%) | 233 | (11) | 57 | (6) |
| Autoimmune disease type, no. (%) | ||||
| Rheumatoid arthritis | 1108 | (53) | NA | |
| Psoriatic arthritis | 308 | (15) | NA | |
| Ankylosing spondylitis | 333 | (16) | NA | |
| Axial or peripheral spondyloarthritis | 54 | (3) | NA | |
| Juvenile idiopathic arthritis | 32 | (2) | NA | |
| Systemic lupus erythematosus | 108 | (5) | NA | |
| Vasculitis | 68 | (3) | NA | |
| Polymyalgia rheumatica | 85 | (4) | NA | |
| Sjogren’s disease | 129 | (6) | NA | |
| Raynaud’s disease | 52 | (3) | NA | |
| Gout | 87 | (4) | NA | |
| MCTD | 16 | (0.8) | NA | |
| Sarcoidosis | 6 | (0.3) | NA | |
| Scleroderma | 49 | (2) | NA | |
| Other rheumatic diseases | 88 | (4) | NA | |
| Immunosuppressive medication, no. (%) | ||||
| No immunosuppressive medication | 483 | (23) | NA | |
| csDMARDs | 1072 | (52) | NA | |
| Methotrexate | 788 | (38) | NA | |
| Biologicals | 785 | (38) | NA | |
| TNF inhibitor | 317 | (15) | NA | |
| Anti-CD20 therapy | 49 | (2) | NA | |
| Oral glucocorticoids | 83 | (4) | NA | |
Data are mean±SD or n (%). Educational levels were based on the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED). Other rheumatic diseases included myositis, dermatomyositis, polymyositis, reactive arthritis, relapsing polychondritis, remitting seronegative symmetrical synovitis with pitting oedema, IgG4-mediated diseases, SAPHO syndrome, eosinophilic fasciitis and diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis. Other bDMARDs were ustekinumab, secukinumab, anakinra, ixekizumab and sarilumab. Other csDMARDs were leflunomide, azathioprine, ciclosporine and gold injections. One person can be diagnosed with more than one autoimmune disease and receive more than one immunosuppressive drug
*There were missing values, percentage are displayed as valid percentages.
bDMARDs, biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs; csDMARDs, conventional synthetic disease-modifying drugs; IMID, immune-mediated inflammatory disease; NA, not applicable; TNF, tumour necrosis factor.