Table 1.
Demographic and clinical characteristics ofpatients with rheumatoid arthritis with and without high coronary artery calcium atherosclerosis
| Characteristics | High Coronary Artery Calcium* | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| No (n=64) |
Yes (n=34) |
P¶ | |
| Demographics | |||
| Age (years) | 52 (46, 62) | 54 (51, 63) | 0.259 |
| Female (%) | 53 (82.8) | 21 (61.8) | 0.021 |
| Caucasian (%) | 58 (90.6) | 30 (88.2) | 0.710 |
| Lipid profile | |||
| Total cholesterol (mg/dL) | 184 (157, 205) | 198 (165, 219) | 0.079 |
| High-density lipoprotein cholesterol (mg/dL) | 46 (39, 58) | 45 (38, 54) | 0.714 |
| Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (mg/dL) | 114 (86, 133) | 122 (106, 148) | 0.032 |
| Triglycerides (mg/dL) | 106 (77, 142) | 111 (78, 136) | 0.988 |
| Other risk factors | |||
| Systolic blood pressure (mmHg) | 134 (117, 146) | 131 (119, 140) | 0.695 |
| Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg) | 73 (69, 80) | 76 (66, 85) | 0.506 |
| Body mass index (kg/m2) | 27.6 (23.6, 32.5) | 27.6 (24.2, 29.5) | 0.649 |
| Hypertension§ | 29 (45.3) | 19 (55.9) | 0.319 |
| Current smoking status | 11 (17.2) | 16 (47.1) | 0.002 |
| Family history of coronary heart disease | 18 (28.1) | 11 (32.4) | 0.816 |
| C-reactive protein (mg/L) | 3.6 (1.0, 10.5) | 9.5 (3.0, 20.0) | 0.016 |
| Disease duration (years) | 3 (2.0, 16.5) | 13.0 (2.0, 21.0) | 0.055 |
Only White and African-American patients who were 40–75 years old at enrollment were included. Patients with diabetes, or previous cardiovascular event (myocardial infarction, angina, stroke) or procedure (coronary artery bypass or graft), with low density lipoprotein cholesterol≥ 190mg/dL, or using statins were excluded.
Data are presented as median (interquartile range) for continuous variables, count (percentage) for categorical variables.
High coronary artery calcium (CAC) is defined as ≥300 Agatston units or CAC≥75th percentile expected for age, sex and race.
Hypertension defined as systolic blood pressure≥140mmHg, or diastolic blood pressure ≥90mmHg, or taking antihypertensive medication
Wilcoxon’s rank sum test was used for comparing continuous variables, and percentages were compared using the chi-square test.