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Table 2 Association between antibiotic prescriptions and RA

From: Antibiotic use and the risk of rheumatoid arthritis: a population-based case-control study

Variables

Controls

Cases

Crude OR (95% CI)

Adjusted ORa (95% CI)

N

%

N

%

Any antibiotic use

 No prescriptions

16,242

18.0

2369

10.4

Reference

Reference

 ≥ 1 prescription

73,771

82.0

20,308

89.6

2.02 (1.92–2.12)

1.60 (1.51–1.68)

No. of prescriptions (quartile) (median (IQR))

 1 (1 (1, 2))

20,321

22.6

4128

18.2

1.49 (1.41–1.57)

1.40 (1.32–1.48)

 2 (4 (3, 5))

18,923

21.0

4592

20.2

1.85 (1.75–1.96)

1.66 (1.57–1.77)

 3 (8 (7, 9))

17,524

19.5

5231

23.1

2.36 (2.23–2.50)

2.04 (1.92–2.17)

 4 (19 (14, 29))

17,003

18.9

6357

28.0

3.10 (2.93–3.28)

2.56 (2.39–2.74)

Recency of therapy (therapy termination)b

 1–2 years before diagnosis

30,041

35.2

9557

43.9

2.34 (2.23–2.46)

1.80 (1.70–1.90)

 2–5 years before diagnosis

26,898

31.5

7016

32.2

1.91 (1.81–2.01)

1.57 (1.49–1.66)

 5–10 years before diagnosis

12,183

14.3

2846

13.1

1.70 (1.59–1.80)

1.48 (1.39–1.58)

Antibiotic type

 Bacteriostatic

  Unexposedc

43,580

48.4

8778

38.7

Reference

Reference

  Exposed

46,433

51.6

13,899

61.3

1.55 (1.50–1.60)

1.31 (1.27–1.36)

 Bactericidal

  Unexposedd

21,892

24.3

3595

15.9

Reference

Reference

  Exposed

68,121

75.7

19,082

84.2

1.80 (1.72–1.87)

1.45 (1.39–1.51)

  1. aAdjusted for age, BMI, smoking status, Charlson comorbidity index, alcohol, and infections
  2. bMost recent course of therapy
  3. cIncluding those people exposed only to bactericidal antibiotics
  4. dIncluding those people exposed only to bacteriostatic antibiotics