Table 1. Gender, age, urbanization, geography comorbidity, and medications distributions among individuals with and without rheumatoid arthritis.
| Variable | Numbers (proportions) of individuals | P-value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patients with RA(N = 12579) | Patients without RA(N = 37737) | ||
| Sex | 1.00 | ||
| Female | 7580 (60.3%) | 22740 (60.3%) | |
| Male | 4999 (39.7%) | 14997 (39.7%) | |
| Age (years) | 1 | ||
| 18–29 | 1693 (13.5%) | 5079 (13.5%) | |
| 30–39 | 1982 (15.8%) | 5946 (15.8%) | |
| 40–49 | 2889 (23.0%) | 8667 (23.0%) | |
| 50–59 | 2535 (20.2%) | 7605 (20.2%) | |
| 60–69 | 1901 (15.1%) | 5703 (15.1%) | |
| ≥70 | 1579 (12.6%) | 4737 (12.6%) | |
| Income a | <0.001 | ||
| <18,000 | 5269 (41.9%) | 16923 (44.8%) | |
| 18,000–34,000 | 5465 (43.4%) | 15567 (41.3%) | |
| ≥35,000 | 1845 (14.7%) | 5247 (13.9%) | |
| Urbanization | 0.22 | ||
| Provinces | 3232 (25.7%) | 10024 (26.6%) | |
| Counties | 998 (7.9%) | 2975 (7.9%) | |
| Districts | 3255 (25.9%) | 9770 (25.9%) | |
| Urban villages | 5094 (40.5%) | 14968 (39.7%) | |
| Geography | <0.001 | ||
| North | 6510 (51.8%) | 18787 (49.8%) | |
| Central | 2161 (17.2%) | 6686 (17.7%) | |
| South | 3488 (27.7%) | 11357 (30.1%) | |
| East | 420 (3.3%) | 907 (2.4%) | |
| Comorbidity | |||
| Hypertension | 4756 (37.8%) | 12197 (32.3%) | <0.001 |
| Diabetes | 2441 (19.4%) | 5863 (15.5%) | <0.001 |
| Cardiovascular disease | 3999 (31.8%) | 8581 (22.7%) | <0.001 |
| Hyperlipidemia | 3683 (29.3%) | 8530 (22.6%) | <0.001 |
| Obesity | 166 (1.3%) | 296 (0.8%) | <0.001 |
| Drug | |||
| Glucocorticoids | 6055 (48.1%) | 10639 (28.2%) | <0.001 |
| Methotrexate | 615 (4.9%) | 74 (0.2%) | <0.001 |
| Cyclosporine | 99 (0.8%) | 13 (0.0%) | <0.001 |
| Azathioprine | 105 (0.8%) | 29 (0.1%) | <0.001 |
| Mycophenolate Mofetil | 7 (0.1%) | 7 (0.0%) | <0.05 |
| Hydroxyurea | 3 (0.0%) | 15 (0.0%) | 0.41 |
| Cyclophosphamide | 49 (0.4%) | 90 (0.2%) | <0.05 |
| Sulfasalazine | 1453 (11.6%) | 81 (0.2%) | <0.001 |
| Leflunomide | 53 (0.4%) | 4 (0.0%) | <0.001 |
| Penicillamine | 34 (0.3%) | 8 (0.0%) | <0.001 |
| Hydroxychloroquine | 1181 (9.4%) | 160 (0.4%) | <0.001 |
| NSAIDs | 12007 (95.5%) | 28583 (75.7%) | <0.001 |
| Etanercept | 33 (0.3%) | 1 (0.0%) | <0.001 |
| Adalimumab | 12 (0.1%) | 0 (0.0%) | <0.001 |
NSAIDs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; RA, rheumatoid arthritis.
a New Taiwan dollars