Clinical characteristics and HDL function at 1 year
| MTX+placebo | MTX+infliximab | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline | One year | p Value | Baseline | One year | p Value | |
| Cardiovascular risk | ||||||
| Total cholesterol (mmol/L) | 5.05 (1.42) | 5.13 (1.55) | 0.84 | 5.01 (1.5) | 6.23 (1.63) | 0.04 |
| HDL-c (mmol/L) | 1.10 (0.22) | 1.10 (0.42) | 0.14 | 1.02 [0.93–1.09] | 1.33 [1.26–1.50] | 0.02 |
| LDL-c (mmol/L) | 3.20 (0.95) | 3.18 (1.23) | 0.96 | 2.90 (1.34) | 3.65 (1.22) | 0.07 |
| Triglyceride (mmol/L) | 1.35 [1.07–1.62] | 1.26 [1.12–1.43] | 0.20 | 2.52 (0.81) | 2.48 (0.92) | 0.91 |
| Glucose (mg/dL) | 4.59 [4.28–4.76] | 4.40 [4.04–5.12] | 0.61 | 4.75 (1.24) | 4.99 (0.95) | 0.15 |
| HDL function | ||||||
| Nitric oxide bioavailability (% buffer-treated cells) | 81.81 (3.97) | 82.72 (3.43) | 0.67 | 84.23 (6.23) | 89.08 (9.31) | 0.02 |
| Superoxide production (nmol/O2-/100 000 cells) | 4.37 (1.71) | 3.63 (1.67) | 0.03 | 3.90 (1.66) | 2.98 (1.47) | 0.01 |
| Paraoxonase-1 activity (μmol p-nitrophenol/L/serum/min) | 137.52 (6.41) | 153.58 (17.88) | 0.07 | 148.24 (14.49) | 155.15 (14.86) | 0.07 |
| Efflux capacity (%) | 12.25 (2.04) | 13.25 (2.52) | 0.26 | 13.52 (1.26) | 14.01 (3.23) | 0.72 |
| RA disease activity | ||||||
| CRP (mg/L) | 37.65 [19.48–64.31] | 26.00 [13.85–36.83] | 0.09 | 26.83 [14.37–37.33] | 2.34 [0.00–6.34] | 0.03 |
| ESR (mm/hours) | 30.00 [22.00–76.00] | 27.50 [16.00–38.00] | 0.69 | 25.00 [14.00–50.50] | 20.50 [11.00–30.00] | 0.61 |
| DAS28—CRP score | 6.08 (0.71) | 5.04 (0.85) | 0.14 | 5.17 (1.13) | 3.53 (1.06) | <0.01 |
| DAS28—ESR score | 5.59 (0.85) | 4.43 (1.74) | 0.08 | 4.68 (1.56) | 2.25 (0.83) | <0.01 |
Values expressed as mean (SD) and median [IQR] for non-normally distributed data. Comparisons between groups were performed using a paired t-test. Comparisons for non-parametric measurements were performed using Wilcoxon signed-rank test.
CRP, C reactive protein; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; HDL-c, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; LDL-c, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; MTX, methotrexate; RA, rheumatoid arthritis.