Table 4.
Atherosclerosis Measures According to RA Status and Presence of Abnormal Urinary Albumin to Creatinine Ratio
| Combined RA+Control | p | RA | p | Control | p | p-interaction | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
| Normal uACR (n=385) | Abnormal uACR (n=82) | Normal uACR (n=161) | Abnormal uACR (n=35) | Normal uACR (n=224) | Abnormal uACR (n=47) | |||||
| Baseline CAC | ||||||||||
| Crude | ||||||||||
| Agatston CAC Score, units | 8 (7, 11) | 22 (12, 38) | 0.002 | 11 (7, 17) | 25 (11, 57) | 0.11 | 7 (5, 9) | 20 (10, 41) | 0.009 | 0.63 |
| CAC in CAC>0 only, units | 81 (63, 103) | 128 (80, 204) | 0.090 | 107 (74, 154) | 131 (65, 263) | 0.61 | 65 (46, 90) | 125 (67, 233) | 0.066 | 0.39 |
| CAC>0, (%) | 49 (54, 44) | 63 (73, 53) | 0.016 | 52 (44, 60) | 66 (49–79) | 0.15 | 46 (40–53) | 62 (47–74) | 0.052 | 0.88 |
| CAC>100, (%) | 25 (21, 29) | 38 (28, 49) | 0.017 | 33 (26, 40) | 46 (30, 62) | 0.15 | 19 (15, 25) | 32 (20–46) | 0.056 | 0.80 |
| Adjusted* | ||||||||||
| Agatston CAC Score, units | 10 (8, 12) | 11 (6, 18) | 0.71 | 10 (7, 14) | 12 (6, 28) | 0.59 | 10 (7, 14) | 10 (5, 20) | 0.96 | 0.71 |
| CAC in CAC>0 only, units | 88 (69, 112) | 97 (60, 157) | 0.73 | 113 (76, 167) | 101 (47, 218) | 0.79 | 70 (48, 102) | 103 (53, 199) | 0.31 | 0.36 |
| CAC>0, (%) | 52 (46, 57) | 52 (39, 65) | 0.97 | 48 (39, 58) | 55 (34, 75) | 0.53 | 54 (46, 62) | 49 (32, 65) | 0.56 | 0.39 |
| CAC>100, (%) | 22 (18, 27) | 23 (14–34) | 0.90 | 28 (20, 37) | 32 (16, 53) | 0.64 | 18 (13, 25) | 19 (10, 33) | 0.92 | 0.78 |
| Change in CAC | ||||||||||
| Crude | ||||||||||
| Change in CAC, units/year | 2.1 (1.5, 2.7) | 1.6 (0.3, 2.8) | 0.46 | 2.4 (1.4, 3.3) | 1.9 (-0.1, 3.9) | 0.68 | 1.9 (1.2, 2.7) | 1.3 (-0.3, 3.0) | 0.50 | 0.92 |
| Change in CAC>0 units, (%) | 56 (51, 62) | 57 (45, 68) | 0.93 | 61 (52, 69) | 48 (30, 66) | 0.21 | 52 (45, 60) | 62 (47, 76) | 0.25 | 0.088 |
| Significant Δ in CAC**, (%) | 13 (10, 17) | 12 (6, 22) | 0.83 | 15 (10, 22) | 7 (2, 25) | 0.31 | 11 (8, 17) | 15 (7, 30) | 0.54 | 0.24 |
| Baseline Carotid U/S Measures | ||||||||||
| Crude | ||||||||||
| CCA-IMT, mm | 0.82 (0.80, 0.84) | 0.83 (0.80, 0.87) | 0.51 | 0.83 (0.81, 0.85) | 0.81 (0.77, 0.85) | 0.35 | 0.80 (0.78, 0.82) | 0.91 (0.83, 1.00) | 0.010 | 0.007 |
| ICA-IMT, mm | 1.06 (1.01, 1.11) | 1.13 (1.10, 1.26) | 0.30 | 1.16 (1.09, 1.22) | 1.14 (1.01, 1.29) | 0.85 | 0.93 (0.87, 1.00) | 1.10 (0.88, 1.36) | 0.16 | 0.19 |
| Carotid plaque, (%) | 16 (12, 20) | 20 (34, 11) | 0.50 | 21 (16, 28) | 23 (12, 39) | 0.85 | 7 (3, 13) | 9 (1, 44) | 0.77 | 0.84 |
| Adjusted* | ||||||||||
| CCA-IMT, mm | 0.83 (0.81, 0.84) | 0.80 (0.77, 0.84) | 0.26 | 0.82 (0.80, 0.84) | 0.77 (0.73, 0.82) | 0.029 | 0.82 (0.80, 0.86) | 0.89 (0.81, 0.97) | 0.15 | 0.018 |
| Baseline Peripheral Arterial Measures | ||||||||||
| Crude | ||||||||||
| ABI | 1.13 (1.11, 1.14) | 1.13 (1.10, 1.16) | 0.70 | 1.15 (1.13, 1.17) | 1.17 (1.13, 1.21) | 0.34 | 1.11 (1.09, 1.12) | 1.10 (1.07, 1.14) | 0.74 | 0.35 |
Means and 95% CIs depicted. Where required, adjusted log means were back-transformed to un-exponentiated means for ease of interpretation
*
Adjusted for age, education, hormone replacement, HOMA-IR, hypertension, IL-6
**
Significant change in CAC is ≥ 0 units/year among those with no baseline CAC and ≥ 100 units/year among those with baseline CAC (ref Budoff et al. JACC 2013 2013;61(12):1231–9.).
RA = Rheumatoid Arthritis; uACR = urine albumin to creatinine ratio; CAC = coronary calcium; CCA = common carotid artery; IMT = intimal medial thickness; ICA = internal carotid artery; ABI = ankle brachial index; U/S = ultrasound