Characteristic | n = 112 |
---|---|
Demographic | |
Age, yrs | 62.4 (51.5–68.6) |
Female sex | 80 (71) |
BMIa, kg/m2 | 27.9 ± 5.2 |
Comorbidities and medications | |
Osteoarthritis | 44 (39) |
Hypertensionb | 88 (79.5) |
Ischemic heart disease | 12 (10.7) |
Hypercholesterolemia | 16 (14) |
Antihypertensive agent | 47 (42) |
ACE inhibitor | 29 (25.9) |
B blocker | 22 (19.6) |
Diuretic | 18 (16.1) |
RA-related | |
Disease duration, yrs | 9 (3–15) |
RF-positive | 87 (78) |
Anti-CCP–positivec | 77 (69) |
DAS28d | 4.2 ± 1.3 |
Methotrexate | 98 (88) |
Sulfasalazine | 80 (71) |
Hydroxychloroquine | 22 (20) |
Gold | 20 (18) |
NSAID | 26 (23) |
Biological agent | 10 (9) |
Electrocardiographic features | |
QT interval, ms | 393.6 ± 31.0 |
Corrected QTc interval, ms | |
QTBAZ | 423.2 ± 22.5 |
QTFHS | 412.5 ± 18.0 |
Heart rate, beats/min | 71.0 ± 13.1 |
Left ventricular hypertrophy, Sokolow-Lyon | 7 (6) |
Q wave abnormality | 6 (5) |
ST abnormalitye | 6 (5) |
Inflammatory markers | |
CRP, mg/l | 9 (5–19.8) |
ESR, mm/h | 21.5 (10–38.8) |
IL-6, pg/ml | 16.8 (4–52.7) |
TNF-α, pg/ml | 8.3 (5–35.8) |
IL-1α, pg/ml | 2.7 (0–24.1) |
IL-1β, pg/ml | 1.1 (0–7.4) |
IL-10, pg/ml | 1.0 (0–5.9) |
↵a n = 109.
↵b Blood pressure ≥ 140 or 90 or taking antihypertensives.
↵c n = 105.
↵d n = 111.
↵e Coded using the Minnesota Code Classification System. RA: rheumatoid arthritis; IQR: interquartile range; BMI: body mass index; ACE: angiotensin-converting enzyme; RF: rheumatoid factor; anti-CCP: anticyclic citrullinated peptide; DAS28: Disease Activity Score at 28 joints; NSAID: nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug; QTc: corrected QT; QTBAZ: QT corrected using the Bazett formula; QTFHS: QT corrected using the Framingham Heart Study formula; CRP: C-reactive protein; ESR: erythrocyte sedimentation rate; IL: interleukin; TNF-α: tumor necrosis factor-α.