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Table 3 Incidence rates, hazard ratio and confidence intervals for coronary heart disease in rheumatoid arthritis patients who did or did not receive acupuncture treatment, stratified by sex, age, comorbidity and drug use

From: Acupuncture decreased the risk of coronary heart disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in Taiwan: a Nationwide propensity score-matched study

Variables

Rheumatoid arthritis

Compared with no-acupuncture cohort

No acupuncture

(n = 9932)

Acupuncture

(n = 9932)

Crude HR

(95%CI)

Adjusted HR

(95%CI)

Event

Person-years

IR

Event

Person-years

IR

Total

1223

39,930.25

30.63

909

48,742.08

18.65

0.63(0.58–0.69)***

0.60(0.55–0.65)***

Sex

 Female

970

33,542.81

28.92

722

40,610.75

17.78

0.64(0.58–0.7)***

0.62(0.56–0.68)***

 Male

253

6387.44

39.61

187

8131.32

23.00

0.60(0.50–0.73)***

0.58(0.48–0.70)***

Age group

 18–39

81

10,544.53

7.68

45

10,665.24

4.22

0.56(0.39–0.81)**

0.53(0.37–0.77)***

 40–59

816

24,725.99

33.00

642

32,628.29

19.68

0.61(0.55–0.68)***

0.59(0.53–0.66)***

 ≥60

326

4659.72

69.96

222

5448.55

40.74

0.61(0.51–0.72)***

0.62(0.52–0.73)***

Baseline Comorbidity

Diabetes mellitus

 No

969

36,055.56

26.88

720

43,658.67

16.49

0.64(0.58–0.70)***

0.60(0.55–0.66)***

 Yes

254

3874.69

65.55

189

5083.41

37.18

0.58(0.48–0.71)***

0.59(0.49–0.72)***

Hypertension

 No

717

32,065.40

22.36

538

38,485.07

13.98

0.64(0.57–0.72)***

0.62(0.56–0.70)***

 Yes

506

7864.85

64.34

371

10,257.00

36.17

0.59(0.51–0.67)***

0.58(0.51–0.67)***

Hyperlipidemia

 No

1000

35,475.99

28.19

741

43,080.05

17.20

0.63(0.58–0.70)***

0.61(0.56–0.67)***

 Yes

223

4454.26

50.06

168

5662.03

29.67

0.59(0.49–0.73)***

0.57(0.47–0.70)***

Congestive heart failure

 No

1202

39,641.02

30.32

897

48,354.94

18.55

0.63(0.58–0.69)***

0.61(0.56–0.66)***

 Yes

21

289.23

72.61

12

387.14

31.00

0.44(0.22–0.90)*

0.50(0.24–1.07)

Cerebral vascular diseases

 No

1069

37,549.80

28.47

796

45,604.09

17.45

0.64(0.58–0.70)***

0.60(0.55–0.66)***

 Yes

154

2380.45

64.69

113

3137.99

36.01

0.58(0.45–0.74)***

0.59(0.46–0.76)***

Depression

 No

1144

38,013.07

30.09

861

46,405.65

18.55

0.64(0.59–0.70)***

0.62(0.56–0.67)***

 Yes

79

1917.19

41.21

48

2336.42

20.54

0.51(0.36–0.73)***

0.51(0.35–0.73)***

Anxiety

 No

1042

35,170.64

29.63

778

43,056.56

18.07

0.63(0.58–0.69)***

0.60(0.55–0.66)***

 Yes

181

4759.61

38.03

131

5685.51

23.04

0.62(0.50–0.78)***

0.62(0.49–0.78)***

Alcoholism

 No

1222

39,865.91

1222

908

48,660.02

908

0.63(0.58–0.69)***

0.61(0.56–0.66)***

 Yes

1

64.34

1

1

82.05

1

0.58(0.03–9.89)

–

Tobacco dependence

 No

1222

39,862.01

1222

909

48,661.38

909

0.63(0.58–0.69)***

0.61(0.56–0.66)***

 Yes

1

68.24

1

0

80.70

0

–

–

Obesity

 No

1214

39,697.39

30.58

900

48,463.26

18.57

0.63(0.58–0.69)***

0.61(0.55–0.66)***

 Yes

9

232.86

38.65

9

278.81

32.28

0.95(0.37–2.42)

0.74(0.26–2.09)

Drug use

Methotrexate

 No

530

10,045.02

52.76

392

13,042.58

30.06

0.60(0.53–0.68)***

0.61(0.54–0.7)***

 Yes

693

29,885.23

23.19

517

35,699.50

14.48

0.64(0.57–0.72)***

0.60(0.53–0.67)***

Hydroxychloroquine

 No

257

5500.43

46.72

195

6736.19

28.95

0.65(0.54–0.78)***

0.62(0.52–0.75)***

 Yes

966

34,429.82

28.06

714

42,005.89

17

0.63(0.57–0.69)***

0.60(0.54–0.66)***

Sulfasalazine

 No

410

9296.59

44.10

285

11,957.00

23.84

0.57(0.49–0.66)***

0.54(0.47–0.63)***

 Yes

813

30,633.66

26.54

624

36,785.07

16.96

0.66(0.59–0.73)***

0.64(0.57–0.71)***

TNF-α inhibitors

 No

1157

34,731.45

33.31

870

42,448.62

20.50

0.64(0.59–0.7)***

0.62(0.56–0.67)***

 Yes

66

5198.80

12.70

39

6293.45

6.20

0.48(0.32–0.72)***

0.42(0.28–0.62)***

NSAIDs

 No

0

42.45

0

2

62.67

31.91

–

–

 Yes

1223

39,887.80

30.66

907

48,679.41

18.63

0.63(0.58–0.69)***

0.61(0.56–0.66)***

Oral steroids

 No

68

1442.40

47.14

54

1799.74

30

0.69(0.48–1.00)*

0.74(0.51–1.07)

 Yes

1155

38,487.85

30.01

855

46,942.34

18.21

0.63(0.57–0.69)***

0.60(0.55–0.65)***

Statins

 No

1020

33,516.65

30.43

762

41,308.09

18.45

0.63(0.58–0.69)***

0.61(0.55–0.67)***

 Yes

203

6413.60

31.65

147

7433.99

19.77

0.63(0.51–0.78)***

0.59(0.48–0.73)***

  1. Abbreviations: IR, incidence rates per 1000 person-years; HR, hazard ratio; and CI, confidence interval
  2. Adjusted HR: adjusted for acupuncture use, age, sex, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, congestive heart failure, cerebral vascular diseases, depression, anxiety, alcoholism, tobacco dependence, obesity, Methotrexate, Hydroxychloroquine, Sulfasalazine, TNF-α inhibitors, oral steroids, NSAIDs and statins in Cox proportional hazard regression
  3. *: p < 0.05; **: p < 0.01; and ***: p < 0.001
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BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies

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