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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Rheumatol. 2019 Mar 15;47(3):441–448. doi: 10.3899/jrheum.180574

Table 1. Participant characteristics at baseline.

Statin users (n=65,032) Statin non-users (n=86,273) p1
Mean (SD) or n (%)
Age, years 70.3 (8.5) 69.2 (10.8) <0.001
Female 34,942 (53.7%) 54,297 (62.9%) <0.001
BMI (kg/m2)2 29.6 (2.4) 28.5 (5.6) <0.001
Smoking status3
Never 28,748 (46.5%) 44,016 (55.7%)
Former 26,448 (42.8%) 26,344 (33.3%) <0.001
Current 6,601 (10.7%) 8,661 (11.0%)
Alcohol intake4
Non-drinker 12,391 (19.8%) 14,657 (18.9%)
Current drinker 48,394 (77.3%) 61,347 (79.0%) <0.001
Ex-drinker 1,824 (2.9%) 1,631 (2.1%)
Multiple index of deprivation, decile 5.6 (2.9) 5.5 (2.9) <0.0001
Comorbid conditions (diagnosis of / history of)
Osteoarthritis 44,577 (68.6%) 55,285 (64.1%) <0.001
Asthma 7,830 (12.0%) 9,683 (11.2%) <0.001
Malabsorptive syndromes 5,525 (8.5%) 6,568 (7.6%) <0.001
Hypertension 37,336 (57.4%) 29,352 (34.0%) <0.001
Hyperlipidaemia 15,389 (23.7%) 4,247 (4.9%) <0.001
Ischaemic heart disease 13,411 (20.6%) 3,817 (4.4%) <0.001
Stroke 5,207 (8.0%) 2,124 (2.5%) <0.001
Myocardial infarction 5,590 (8.6%) 1,161 (1.4%) <0.001
Congestive heart failure 1,984 (3.1%) 1,663 (1.9%) <0.001
Malignancy 451 (0.7%) 631 (0.7%) 0.39
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 2,559 (3.9%) 2,539 (2.9%) <0.001
Kidney failure 39 (0.06%) 22 (0.03%) <0.001
Cerebrovascular disease 4,512 (6.9%) 2,123 (2.5%) <0.001
Peripheral vascular disease 1,796 (2.8%) 756 (0.88%) <0.001
Dementia 296 (0.46%) 458 (0.53%) 0.04
Neoplasm 5,336 (8.2%) 7,034 (8.2%) 0.72
Diabetes 10,957 (16.9%) 2,924 (3.4%) <0.001
Ulcers 3,537 (5.4%) 3,568 (4.1%) <0.001
Hemiplegia 134 (0.2%) 109 (0.1%) <0.001
Renal disease 8,285 (12.7%) 6,032 (7.0%) <0.001
Inflammatory bowel disease 86 (0.1%) 142 (0.2%) 0.11
Medication
Proton pump inhibitors 30,594 (47.0%) 34,487 (40.0%) <0.001
Antiarrhythmics 44,502 (68.4%) 40,828 (47.3%) <0.001
Anticonvulsants 5,802 (8.9%) 6,665 (7.7%) <0.001
Antidepressants 19,226 (29.6%) 23,247 (27.0%) <0.001
Anti-parkinson drugs 1,020 (1.6%) 1,410 (1.6%) 0.31
Thiazide diuretics 28,528 (43.9%) 25,205 (29.2%) <0.001
Anxiolytics 1,273 (2.0%) 1,420 (1.7%) <0.001
Platelet inhibitors 14,196 (21.8%) 7,435 (8.6%) <0.001
Warfarin 4,765 (7.3%) 3,870 (4.5%) <0.001
Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors 13,607 (20.9%) 9,180 (10.6%) <0.001
Beta blockers 29,026 (44.6%) 21,691 (25.1%) <0.001
Calcium channel blockers 27,131 (41.7%) 19,300 (22.4%) <0.001
Loop diuretics 13,748 (21.1%) 12,688 (14.7%) <0.001
Nonstatin lipid lowering drugs 4,148 (6.4%) 1,962 (2.3%) <0.001
Corticosteroids 26,203 (40.3%) 30,778 (35.7%) <0.001
Oral antidiabetic drugs 1,691 (2.6%) 381 (0.44) <0.001
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs 55,429 (85.2) 71,298 (82.6%) <0.001
Hormone replacement therapy 11,613 (17.9%) 16,488 (19.1%) <0.001
Bisphosphonates 4,437 (6.8%) 5,942 (6.9%) 0.62
Calcium / vitamin D 6,746 (10.4%) 8,647 (10.0%) 0.03
Selective oestrogen receptor modulators 1,219 (1.9%) 2,067 (2.4%) <0.001

SD: standard deviation, BMI: body mass index

1

p-value from a t-test for continuous variables and a chi-square test for categorical variables

2

Data on BMI available for 72,432 study participants

3

Data for smoking status available for 140,785 participants

4

Data on alcohol intake available for 140,244 participants