Table 2.
Comparison between patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with abnormal TyG
| Variables | RA Abnormal TyG Index n = 48 |
RA Normal TyG index n = 47 |
p |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) mean ± SD | 54.0 ± 6.8 | 53.8 ± 7.5 | 0.8 |
| Disease duration (years), mean ± SD | 10.8 ± 8.9 | 12.9 ± 9.2 | 0.2 |
| Smoking, n (%) | 6 (12.5) | 3 (6.7) | 0.4 |
| Sedentary lifestyle, n (%) | 33 (68.8) | 26 (55.3) | 0.2 |
| Hypertension, n (%) | 19 (39.6) | 13 (27.7) | 0.2 |
| Duration of hypertension (years), mean ± SD | 4.8 ± 8.5 | 1.7 ± 3.9 | 0.02 |
| Menopause, n (%) | 42 (87.5) | 36 (76.6) | 0.1 |
| Body mass index (kg/m2), mean ± SD | 28.4 ± 3.4 | 27.5 ± 3.7 | 0.2 |
| Waist (cm), mean ± SD | 94.1 ± 8.1 | 89.0 ± 10.2 | 0.008 |
| Total-cholesterol (mg/dL), mean ± SD | 207.2 ± 42.1 | 185.8 ± 29.7 | 0.005 |
| Total-cholesterol (mmol/L), mean ± SD | 5.3 ± 1.0 | 4.8 ± 0.7 | 0.005 |
| HDL-cholesterol (mg/dL), mean ± SD | 47.5 ± 13.9 | 57.1 ± 13.5 | 0.001 |
| HDL-cholesterol (mmol/L), mean ± SD | 1.2 ± 0.3 | 1.4 ± 0.3 | 0.001 |
| LDL-cholesterol (mg/dL), mean ± SD | 122.6 ± 36.6 | 107.3 ± 27.3 | 0.02 |
| LDL-cholesterol (mmol/L), mean ± SD | 3.1 ± 0.9 | 2.7 ± 0.7 | 0.02 |
| Uric acid(mg/dL), mean ± SD | 4.6 ± 1.1 | 4.1 ± 1.3 | 0.07 |
| Uric acid(mmol/L), mean ± SD | 2.7 ± 0.6 | 2.4 ± 0.7 | 0.07 |
| Fat mass% (DXA results), mean ± SD | 46.9 ± 4.6 | 46.8 ± 5.1 | 0.8 |
| Treatments | |||
| Corticosteroid, n (%) | 34 (70.8) | 40 (85.1) | 0.1 |
| Chloroquine, n (%) | 7 (14.5) | 7 (14.8) | 0.09 |
| Methotrexate, n (%) | 25 (53.2) | 30 (63.8) | 0.2 |
| Leflunomide, n (%) | 14 (29.2) | 13 (27.7) | 1.0 |
| Biologics, n (%) | 4 (8.3) | 2 (4.3) | 0.4 |
Italic values indicate significance of p value (p < 0.05)
An abnormal TyG index (TyG index > 4.68) suggests insulin resistance; HDL-cholesterol high density lipoprotein-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol low density lipoprotein-cholesterol, DXA dual-energy X-ray absortiometry, TyG values are expressed in mean and standard deviation SD; comparisons between proportions were calculated by Χ2 test or Fisher´s exact test; comparisons between means by unpaired Student-t test; biologics included in the analysis: adalimumab, rituximab, infliximab