Skip to main content

Table 1 Baseline characteristics and atherosclerosis in Caucasian and black women with RA

From: Obesity and carotid atherosclerosis in African black and Caucasian women with established rheumatoid arthritis: a cross-sectional study

Characteristic

Caucasian women

(n= 95)

Black women

(n= 108)

P a

Sociodemographics

   

   Age, years

57.5 (11.7)

55.4 (10.0)

...

   Public healthcare (%)

18.9

97.2

...

Lifestyle factors

   

   Pack year history smoking, n

2.4 (5.0)

0.1 (1.5)

0.003

   Current smoking (%)

9.6

1.9

0.04

   Never smoking (%)

90.7

58.5

0.01

   Former smoking (%)

31.9

8.4

0.01

   Alcohol use (%)

34.0

1.9

< 0.0001

   Exercise, hours per weekb, n

0.7 (2.1)

0.6 (1.9)

0.04

Blood pressure

   

   Systolic blood pressure, mmHg

128 (17)

140 (24)

0.5

   Diastolic blood pressure, mmHg

78 (9)

85 (15)

0.1

Lipids

   

   Total cholesterol, mmol/l

5.1 (1.0)

4.7 (0.9)

0.02

   LDL cholesterol, mmol/l

2.8 (0.9)

2.6 (0.8)

0.5

   HDL cholesterolb, mmol/l

1.7 (1.3)

1.5 (1.3)

0.002

   Cholesterol÷HDL cholesterol

3.1 (1.0)

3.3 (1.1)

0.1

   Triglyceridesb, mmol/l

1.1 (1.5)

1.1 (1.7)

0.8

   Triglycerides÷HDL cholesterolb

0.6 (1.8)

0.7 (2.1)

0.1

   Non-HDL cholesterol

3.3 (1.0)

3.2 (0.9)

0.5

Glucoseb, mmol/l

4.7 (1.2)

5.2 (1.4)

0.02

Diabetes mellitus (%)

4.2

16.7

0.3

RA characteristics

   

   Disease duration, years

12.7 (9.1)

14.8 (9.4)

0.6

   Rheumatoid factor positive (%)

73.4

75.9

0.8

   DAS28

3.5 (1.5)

4.1 (1.3)

0.5

   Deformed jointsb, n

4 (4)

7 (3)

0.05

   Prednisone use ever (%)

43.2

42.6

0.08

   Current prednisone use (%)

4.2

1.9

0.07

   Current DMARD, n

2.1 (0.9)

2.5 (1.0)

0.4

   Current methotrexate use (%)

77.9

91.7

0.9

   Current chloroquine use (%)

47.4

77.8

0.2

Systemic inflammation

   

   Erythrocyte sedimentation rateb, mm/hr

7 (3)

21 (3)

0.007

   C-reactive proteinb, mg/l

3.9 (3.6)

7.5 (3.1)

0.5

Cardiovascular drugs

   

   Antihypertensive agent use (%)

43.2

55.6

0.07

   Oral glucose lowering agent use (%)

4.2

13.9

0.03

   Insulin use (%)

1.1

2.0

0.6

   Statin use (%)

36.8

18.5

0.03

   Ezetimibe use (%)

2.1

0

...

Other

   

   Education, years

12.7 (2.7)

7.5 (4.1)

0.002

   Hypothyroidismc (%)

34.7

6.5

0.2

   Hormone replacement therapy (%)

17.9

5.6

0.8

Atherosclerosis

   

   cIMT, mm

0.689 (0.117)

0.691 (0.099)

0.6

   Plaque (%)

36.8

35.2

0.5

  1. Results are expressed as mean (SD) or proportions/percentages. aP for comparison between black and Caucasian women with RA after adjustment for age and healthcare as well as lipid lowering and antihypertensive agents in models that include lipid and blood pressure variables, respectively; bnon-normally distributed variable for which geometric mean (SD) is given; c includes subclinical and overt hypothyroidism and diagnosed when serum thyrotropin level was > 4.94 mU/L or when thyroid hormone replacement therapy was used. cIMT, common carotid artery intima-thickness; DAS28, Disease Activity Score in 28 joints; DMARD, disease modifying agents for rheumatic disease; n, number of; RA, rheumatoid arthritis.