Table 1.

Patient characteristics.

	Ankylosing Spondylitis (N = 2773)	Comparison Group (N = 107,341)	Comparison Group excluding patients with rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis (N = 95,421)
Age, years*	61.1 ± 10.8	69.0 ± 7.3	69.1 ± 7.2
Men, %	69.4	40.2	40.7
White, %	89.8	90.4	90.9
Black, %	6.0	7.5	7.2
Other, %	4.2	2.1	1.9
Low income, %	10.4	14.3	13.6
Coronary artery disease, %	42.2	38.7	38.1
Congestive heart failure, %	18.9	16.4	15.9
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, %	24.8	24.5	23.6
Diabetes mellitus, %	25.3	23.8	23.6
Chronic kidney disease, %	12.8	10.3	10.1
Cancer, %	11.4	11.2	11.3
Stroke, %	7.1	6.8	6.7
Dementia, %	4.0	3.4	3.3

^*Mean ± standard deviation