Table 1.

Characteristics and cardiovascular risk factors of patients with and without rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who had no prior cardiovascular disease.

Criteria for CV risk score	RA (n = 525)	Non-RA (n = 524)
Age (years) mean ± SD	54.6 ± 13.7	54.5 ± 13.5
Rheumatoid factor positive	357 (68%)	--
Abnormal erythrocyte sedimentation rate at incidence (>30 mm/hr)	203 (40%)	--
Total cholesterol, (mg/dl) mean ± SD	195.4 ± 35.7	205.8 ± 40.9
HDL cholesterol, (mg/dl) mean ± SD	54.2 ± 16.1	55.5 ± 16.5
Systolic blood pressure (mmHg) mean ± SD	131.5 ± 18.3	129.1 ± 19.8
Blood pressure treatment	125 (24%)	109 (21%)
Current smoking	98 (19%)	91 (17%)
Diabetes mellitus	45 (9%)	38 (7%)
Body mass index (kg/m2) mean ± SD	28.3 ± 6.2	28.0 ± 6.1

SD: Standard deviation