Table 4.
Incidence density and HRs of hearing loss associated with medication in patients with RA
| Medicine use | N | Event (n) | Person-years | Incidence density† | HR (95% CI) | |
| Crude‡ | Adjusted‡ | |||||
| NSAIDs | ||||||
| No | 169 | 16 | 532 | 30.1 | Ref | Ref |
| Yes | 18 098 | 413 | 138 553 | 2.98 | 0.11 (0.07 to 0.18)*** | 0.12 (0.07 to 0.20)*** |
| Prednisolone | ||||||
| No | 1673 | 60 | 11 529 | 5.20 | Ref | Ref |
| Yes | 16 594 | 369 | 127 556 | 2.89 | 0.56 (0.43 to 0.74)*** | 0.53 (0.40 to 0.70)*** |
| DMARDs | ||||||
| Hydroxychloroquine | ||||||
| No | 12 200 | 309 | 91 284 | 3.39 | Ref | Ref |
| Yes | 6067 | 120 | 47 801 | 2.51 | 0.75 (0.60 to 0.92)** | 0.77 (0.62 to 0.95)* |
| Sulfasalazine | ||||||
| No | 5141 | 148 | 36 176 | 4.09 | Ref | Ref |
| Yes | 13 126 | 281 | 102 909 | 2.73 | 0.68 (0.56 to 0.83)*** | 0.74 (0.61 to 0.91)** |
| Methotrexate | ||||||
| No | 9261 | 268 | 67 188 | 3.99 | Ref | Ref |
| Yes | 9006 | 161 | 71 897 | 2.24 | 0.57 (0.47 to 0.69)*** | 0.65 (0.53 to 0.79)*** |
| Leflunomide | ||||||
| No | 15 393 | 405 | 116 118 | 3.49 | Ref | Ref |
| Yes | 2874 | 24 | 22 967 | 1.04 | 0.30 (0.20 to 0.45)*** | 0.33 (0.22 to 0.50)*** |
| TNF | ||||||
| Etanercept | ||||||
| No | 16 259 | 408 | 122 506 | 3.33 | Ref | Ref |
| Yes | 2008 | 21 | 16 579 | 1.27 | 0.39 (0.25 to 0.60)*** | 0.44 (0.28 to 0.68)*** |
| Adalimumab | ||||||
| No | 17 317 | 424 | 131 303 | 3.23 | Ref | Ref |
| Yes | 950 | 5 | 7783 | 0.64 | 0.20 (0.08 to 0.48)*** | 0.23 (0.10 to 0.55)** |
*P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001.
†Per 1000 person-years.
‡Model adjusted for sex, age, DM, hyperlipidaemia, hypertension, hyperthyroidism, IHD, stroke, CKD, hypothyroidism and autoimmune diseases.
CKD, chronic kidney disease; DM, diabetes mellitus; DMARD, disease-modifying antirheumatic drug; IHD, ischaemic heart disease; NSAID, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; TNF, tumour necrosis factor.