Table 2.

Distribution of carotid IMT and FMD in RA patients stratified into four quartiles according to time from disease diagnosis to ultrasonography^a

Time from RA diagnosis to ultrasonography	Carotid IMT (mm) mean ± SD	FMD (%) mean ± SD
Quartile 1, one to seven years	0.69 ± 0.17	7.4 ± 3.8
Quartile 2, 7.5 to 14 years	0.68 ± 0.16	6.6 ± 4.6
Quartile 3, 14.5 to 19.7 years	0.84 ± 0.24	4.0 ± 4.0
Quartile 4, 20 to 38 years	0.81 ± 0.12	3.3 ± 4.4
P value	< 0.001	< 0.001

^aCarotid IMT: carotid intima-media wall thickness, FMD: flow-mediated endothelium-dependent vasodilatation, RA: rheumatoid arthritis.