Demographic and disease characteristics for patients with rheumatoid arthritis and controls, and for rheumatoid arthritis patients stratified according to current use of corticosteroids
| Variable | Comparison of patients and controls | Comparison of patients stratified according to current corticosteroid use | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patients (n = 210) | Controls (n = 210) | p Value* | Patients (n = 210) | Controls (n = 210) | p Value† | |
| Values are mean (SD) for continuous variables, % for counts. | ||||||
| *Paired analyses, t tests for continuous variables and McNemar’s tests for dichotomous variables. | ||||||
| †Group comparisons, unpaired t tests for continuous variables and χ2 tests for dichotomous variables. | ||||||
| ‡Ever used for 12 months or more. | ||||||
| BMI, body mass index; DAS, disease activity score; DMARD, disease modifying antirheumatic drugs; MHAQ, modified health assessment questionnaire. | ||||||
| Age (years) | 63.0 (6.7) | 63.4 (6.7) | <0.001 | 63.9 (6.4) | 62.2 (7.0) | 0.08 |
| Height (cm) | 164.3 (5.9) | 163.7 (5.9) | 0.29 | 164.2 (6.0) | 164.5 (6.8) | 0.68 |
| Weight (kg) | 66.7 (12.2) | 69.2 (11.2) | 0.03 | 68.0 (13.2) | 65.6 (11.3) | 0.17 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 24.7 (4.4) | 25.8 (4.1) | 0.008 | 25.2 (5.0) | 24.2 (3.9) | 0.10 |
| Disease duration (years) | 16.1 (10.0) | 17.7 (10.3) | 14.7 (9.6) | 0.03 | ||
| RF positive (%) | 51.7 | 64.5 | 40.7 | <0.001 | ||
| 28-DAS | 4.71 (1.24) | 5.15 (1.18) | 4.34 (1.18) | <0.001 | ||
| MHAQ | 1.65 (0.55) | 1.11 (0.25) | <0.001 | 1.84 (0.59) | 1.48 (0.45) | <0.001 |
| 18 deformed joints count | 4.23 (5.0) | 5.6 (5.3) | 3.0 (4.3) | <0.001 | ||
| Smoking status | ||||||
| Current smoker | 32.4 | 27.5 | 0.40 | 34.7 | 30.3 | 0.50 |
| Ever smoked | 64.2 | 54.2 | 0.08 | 67.3 | 62.4 | 0.46 |
| Current DMARD use (%) | 55.4 | 62.2 | 39.3 | <0.001 | ||
| Corticosteroid use | ||||||
| Current user (%) | 46.7 | 1.9 | <0.001 | 100 | 0 | |
| Ever used (%) | 69.5 | 10.0 | <0.001 | 100 | 40.2 | <0.001 |
| Long term use‡ | 51.9 | 1.9 | <0.001 | 90.8 | 17.9 | <0.001 |
| Bone protecting agents | ||||||
| Oestrogens | ||||||
| Current user (%) | 42.6 | 30.0 | 0.02 | 45.4 | 40.2 | 0.45 |
| Ever used (%) | 58.4 | 49.8 | 0.10 | 60.8 | 56.3 | 0.55 |
| Bisphosphonates | ||||||
| Current user (%) | 10.6 | 1.4 | <0.001 | 16.5 | 5.4 | 0.009 |
| Ever used (%) | 14.4 | 1.9 | <0.001 | 21.6 | 8.0 | 0.005 |
| Calcitonin | ||||||
| Current user (%) | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.00 | 2.3 | 0 | 0.19 |
| Ever used (%) | 4.0 | 1.4 | 0.22 | 8.0 | 0.9 | 0.01 |
| Calcium supplementation | ||||||
| Current user (%) | 62.4 | 20.0 | <0.001 | 81.1 | 46.4 | <0.001 |
| Ever used (%) | 74.6 | 25.8 | <0.001 | 90.5 | 60.9 | <0.001 |
| Vitamin D supplementation | ||||||
| Current user (%) | 72.8 | 56.7 | <0.001 | 86.0 | 61.5 | <0.001 |
| Ever users (%) | 81.7 | 65.9 | <0.001 | 92.5 | 72.5 | <0.001 |