Table 2.
Incidence and risks of upper and lower gastrointestinal (GI) events in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and non-RA subjects.
| GI Events | No. Events | Incidence Rates (95% CI)* | RR (95% CI) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RA | Non-RA | RA | Non-RA | ||
| Any GI event | 162 | 124 | 3.64 (3.10, 4.25) | 2.19 (1.82, 2.62) | 1.66 (1.32, 2.16) |
| Any upper GI event | 154 | 110 | 2.85 (2.41, 3.33) | 1.66 (1.36, 2.00) | 1.72 (1.35, 2.20) |
| Any lower GI event | 129 | 99 | 2.10 (1.76, 2.50) | 1.43 (1.16, 1.74) | 1.47 (1.13, 1.91) |
| Upper GI diagnoses | |||||
| Ulcer | 74 | 47 | 1.07 (0.84, 1.35) | 0.60 (0.44, 0.79) | 1.79 (1.25, 2.6) |
| Bleed | 52 | 333 | 0.68 (0.51, 0.90) | 0.40 (0.06, 0.21) | 1.71 (1.12, 2.67) |
| Perforation | 10 | 10 | 0.12 (0.06, 0.22) | 0.12 (0.06, 0.21) | 1.05 (0.44, 2.54) |
| Obstruction | 46 | 35 | 0.60 (0.44, 0.80) | 0.42 (0.29, 0.59) | 1.41 (0.91, 2.2) |
| Esophagitis | 73 | 46 | 1.01 (0.79, 1.26) | 0.57 (0.41, 0.57) | 1.77 (1.23, 2.58) |
| Lower GI diagnoses | |||||
| Ulcer | 16 | 14 | 0.20 (0.11, 0.32) | 0.16 (0.09, 0.28) | 1.21 (0.59, 2.5) |
| Bleed | 40 | 33 | 0.54 (0.38, 0.73) | 0.40 (0.28, 0.56) | 1.33 (0.85, 2.12) |
| Perforation | 11 | 5 | 0.13 (0.07, 0.24) | 0.06 (0.02, 0.13) | 2.23 (0.85, 7.1) |
| Obstruction | 41 | 31 | 0.53 (0.38, 0.72) | 0.38 (0.26, 0.53) | 1.40 (0.89, 2.26) |
| Diverticulitis | 35 | 25 | 0.45 (0.31, 0.62) | 0.29 (0.19, 0.43) | 1.51 (0.91, 2.56) |
| Ischemic colitis | 9 | 11 | 0.11 (0.05, 0.21) | 0.13 (0.06, 0.22) | 0.88 (0.36, 2.09) |
| Infectious colitis | 32 | 19 | 0.41 (0.28, 0.58) | 0.23 (0.14, 0.35) | 1.81 (1.05, 3.26) |
| Drug-induced colitis | 34 | 18 | 0.43 (0.29, 0.59) | 0.21 (0.12, 0.34) | 1.98 (1.15, 3.60) |
| Other colitis** | 9 | 12 | 0.11 (0.05, 0.21) | 0.14 (0.07, 0.24) | 0.81 (0.33, 1.87) |
| Crohn’s disease/ulcerative colitis | 5 | 3 | 0.06 (0.02, 0.14) | 0.04 (0.01, 0.10) | 1.68 (0.45, 7.89) |
*
Rates are given per 100 person-years.
**
Cases of colitis for which the cause could not be determined. Statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) are shown in bold type. RR: relative risk.