Table 1. Baseline characteristics of the study cohorts receiving or not receiving urate-lowering therapy.
| Before matching | After matching | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Urate-lowering therapy | Urate-lowering therapy | |||||||||
| No | Yes | No | Yes | |||||||
| 4059 | 5307 | 2609 | 2609 | |||||||
| n | % | n | % | SMD | n | % | n | % | SMD | |
| Sex | ||||||||||
| Female | 1173 | 28.9 | 687 | 12.9 | 0.41 | 516 | 19.8 | 502 | 19.2 | 0.01 |
| Male | 2886 | 71.1 | 4620 | 87.1 | 0.41 | 2093 | 80.2 | 2107 | 80.8 | 0.01 |
| Age, years | ||||||||||
| 20–39 | 1204 | 29.7 | 2114 | 39.8 | 0.21 | 874 | 33.5 | 907 | 34.8 | 0.03 |
| 40–59 | 1804 | 44.4 | 2095 | 39.5 | 0.11 | 1131 | 43.3 | 1104 | 42.3 | 0.02 |
| 60–79 | 1051 | 25.9 | 1098 | 20.7 | 0.12 | 604 | 23.2 | 598 | 22.9 | 0.01 |
| Mean (SD) | 49.6 | 14.8 | 46.3 | 15.2 | 0.22 | 48.2 | 14.9 | 48 | 15.1 | 0.01 |
| Area | ||||||||||
| North | 1887 | 46.5 | 2447 | 46.1 | 0.01 | 1189 | 45.6 | 1179 | 45.2 | 0.01 |
| Central | 865 | 21.3 | 1158 | 21.8 | 0.01 | 556 | 21.3 | 548 | 21 | 0.01 |
| South | 1180 | 29.1 | 1497 | 28.2 | 0.02 | 771 | 29.6 | 793 | 30.4 | 0.02 |
| Other | 127 | 3.1 | 205 | 3.9 | 0.04 | 93 | 3.6 | 89 | 3.4 | 0.01 |
| Comorbidity | ||||||||||
| Hypertension | 1213 | 29.9 | 1648 | 31.1 | 0.03 | 809 | 31 | 801 | 30.7 | 0.01 |
| DM | 459 | 11.3 | 394 | 7.4 | 0.14 | 239 | 9.2 | 248 | 9.5 | 0.01 |
| CAD | 491 | 12.1 | 515 | 9.7 | 0.08 | 293 | 11.2 | 293 | 11.2 | <0.001 |
| Stroke | 273 | 6.7 | 305 | 5.7 | 0.04 | 176 | 6.7 | 176 | 6.7 | <0.001 |
| Heart failure | 100 | 2.5 | 115 | 2.2 | 0.02 | 61 | 2.3 | 65 | 2.5 | 0.01 |
| Hypercholesterolemia | 1165 | 28.7 | 1390 | 26.2 | 0.06 | 709 | 27.2 | 702 | 26.9 | 0.01 |
| Peripheral vascular diseases | 135 | 3.3 | 109 | 2.1 | 0.08 | 64 | 2.5 | 66 | 2.5 | 0.005 |
| Atrial fibrillation | 35 | 0.9 | 43 | 0.8 | 0.01 | 24 | 0.9 | 25 | 1 | 0.004 |
| Rheumatologic diseases | 172 | 4.2 | 99 | 1.9 | 0.14 | 76 | 2.9 | 66 | 2.5 | 0.02 |
| Renal diseases | 121 | 3 | 182 | 3.4 | 0.03 | 88 | 3.4 | 87 | 3.3 | 0.002 |
| Alcohol-related diseases | 131 | 3.2 | 170 | 3.2 | 0.001 | 84 | 3.2 | 94 | 3.6 | 0.02 |
| CCI(SD) | 0.27 | 0.77 | 0.20 | 0.67 | 0.11 | 0.24 | 0.73 | 0.25 | 0.76 | 0.01 |
| Drug | ||||||||||
| ACE inhibitors/ARBs | 774 | 19.1 | 1054 | 19.9 | 0.02 | 514 | 19.7 | 519 | 19.9 | 0.005 |
| β-blockers | 1325 | 32.6 | 1553 | 29.3 | 0.07 | 822 | 31.5 | 813 | 31.2 | 0.01 |
| Calcium-channel blockers | 1069 | 26.3 | 1385 | 26.1 | 0.01 | 702 | 26.9 | 702 | 26.9 | <0.001 |
| Diuretics | 940 | 23.2 | 1108 | 20.9 | 0.06 | 584 | 22.4 | 580 | 22.2 | 0.004 |
| Potassium sparing diuretics | 120 | 3 | 98 | 1.8 | 0.07 | 64 | 2.5 | 66 | 2.5 | 0.005 |
| Other antihypertensive | 498 | 12.3 | 668 | 12.6 | 0.01 | 336 | 12.9 | 349 | 13.4 | 0.01 |
| Metformin | 275 | 6.8 | 263 | 5 | 0.08 | 160 | 6.1 | 163 | 6.2 | 0.005 |
| sulfonylurea | 284 | 7 | 297 | 5.6 | 0.06 | 171 | 6.6 | 178 | 6.8 | 0.01 |
| Insulin | 92 | 2.3 | 129 | 2.4 | 0.01 | 67 | 2.6 | 73 | 2.8 | 0.01 |
| Statin | 383 | 9.4 | 320 | 6 | 0.13 | 208 | 8 | 213 | 8.2 | 0.01 |
| Aspirin | 680 | 16.8 | 779 | 14.7 | 0.06 | 432 | 16.6 | 423 | 16.2 | 0.01 |
| mean of follow-up period of outcome | 3.58 | 2.58 | 6.66 | 3.66 | 0.95 | 4.27 | 2.8 | 4.52 | 2.81 | 0.09 |
SMD, standardized mean difference, ≤0.10 indicates a negligible difference between the two cohorts; outcomes consisting of all-cause mortality, hospitalized coronary artery disease, hospitalized stroke, and hospitalized heart failure.