Baseline characteristics of adult patients attending 389 family practices in England, by disease type
| Characteristic | No. (%) of patients or mean ± SD* | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total n = 39 938 | GCA only n = 4505 | PMR only n = 32 735 | PMR and GCA n = 2698 | |
| Sociodemographic information | ||||
| Sex, male | 12 346 (30.9) | 1391 (30.9) | 10 373 (31.7) | 582 (21.6) |
| Age, yr | 73.0 ± 10.7 | 71.1 ± 12.6 | 73.2 ± 10.5 | 73.9 ± 8.7 |
| Ethnicity† | ||||
| White | 35 692 (89.4) | 4001 (88.8) | 29 205 (89.2) | 2486 (92.1) |
| Other | 959 (2.4) | 220 (4.9) | 671 (2.0) | 68 (2.5) |
| Index of Multiple Deprivation (fifths) | ||||
| First (least deprived) | 7583 (19.0) | 709 (15.7) | 6358 (19.4) | 516 (19.1) |
| Fifth (most deprived) | 5311 (13.3) | 829 (18.4) | 4104 (12.5) | 378 (14.0) |
| Biomarkers | ||||
| Body mass index† | 27.5 ± 5.6 | 27.3 ± 6.0 | 27.5 ± 5.5 | 26.9 ± 5.7 |
| C-reactive protein, mg/L | 33.1 ± 43.4 | 36.7 ± 57.2 | 32.2 ± 40.8 | 40.0 ± 53.6 |
| Erythrocyte sedimentation rate, mm/h | 40.4 ± 29.0 | 41.4 ± 32.5 | 39.9 ± 28.2 | 45.2 ± 32.1 |
| Total white blood cells, x109/L | 8.7 ± 2.7 | 8.5 ± 3.0 | 8.7 ± 2.7 | 9.0 ± 2.9 |
| Neutrophils, x109/L | 5.8 ± 2.4 | 5.7 ± 2.7 | 5.8 ± 2.3 | 6.2 ± 2.6 |
| Lymphocytes, x109/L | 2.0 ± 0.9 | 2.0 ± 1.0 | 2.0 ± 0.9 | 1.9 ± 0.9 |
| Eosinophils, x109/L | 0.2 ± 0.2 | 0.2 ± 0.2 | 0.2 ± 0.2 | 0.2 ± 0.2 |
| Hemoglobin, g/L | 128 ± 14 | 129 ±15 | 128 ± 14 | 126 ± 14 |
| Creatinine, μmol/L | 88.8 ± 33.6 | 92.2 ± 49.7 | 88.5 ± 31.2 | 87.0 ± 29.8 |
| Smoking status† | ||||
| Nonsmoker | 16 966 (42.5) | 1710 (38.0) | 14 084 (43.0) | 1172 (43.4) |
| Former smoker | 8302 (20.8) | 824 (18.3) | 6982 (21.3) | 496 (18.4) |
| Current smoker | 8197 (20.5) | 1221 (27.1) | 6440 (19.7) | 536 (19.9) |
| Duration since first recorded diagnosed disease, yr, median (IQR) | 4.9 (3.0–7.0) | 4.0 (2.0–6.0) | 4.9 (3.0–7.0) | 6.1 (2.0–9.0) |
| No. of hospital admissions in last year | 0.6 ± 2.6 | 0.9 ± 4.0 | 0.5 ± 2.4 | 0.6 ± 1.3 |
| Comorbidities‡ | ||||
| Cardiovascular disease | 13 044 (32.7) | 1649 (36.6) | 10 464 (32.0) | 931 (34.5) |
| Diabetes | 5020 (12.6) | 647 (14.4) | 4055 (12.4) | 318 (11.8) |
| Asthma | 6336 (15.9) | 817 (18.1) | 5057 (15.4) | 462 (17.1) |
| COPD | 2987 (7.5) | 466 (10.3) | 2328 (7.1) | 193 (7.2) |
| Cancer | 4050 (10.1) | 466 (10.3) | 3348 (10.2) | 236 (8.7) |
| Chronic renal disease | 1347 (3.4) | 163 (3.6) | 1095 (3.3) | 89 (3.3) |
Note: COPD = chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, GCA = giant cell arteritis, IQR = interquartile range, PMR = polymyalgia rheumatica, SD = standard deviation.
↵* Unless stated otherwise.
↵† Data on ethnicity, body mass index and smoking status were missing for 8.1%, 29.8% and 16.2% of patients, respectively.
↵‡ Two patients had HIV infection at baseline.