Table 1 Baseline characteristics of the research population with and without arthritis
|  | Arthritis (n = 1282) | Non-arthritis (n = 7196) | P value |
|---|---|---|---|
Age (years) | 64.52 ± 12.78 | 40.95 ± 17.88 |  < 0.001 |
 Gender | |||
 Male | 488 (38.07%) | 3569 (49.60%) |  < 0.001 |
 Female | 794 (61.94%) | 3627 (50.41%) | |
 Race (%) | |||
 Mexican American | 57 (4.40%) | 668 (9.27%) |  < 0.001 |
 Other race | 94 (7.34%) | 867 (12.05%) | |
 Non-Hispanic white | 1012 (78.96%) | 4882 (67.84%) | |
 Non-Hispanic black | 119 (9.30%) | 779 (10.83%) | |
 Level of education (%) | |||
 Less than high school | 395 (30.80%) | 1163 (16.16%) |  < 0.001 |
 High school | 370 (28.83%) | 1493 (20.75%) | |
 More than high school | 517 (40.37%) | 4540 (63.09%) | |
 Smoking behavior (%) | |||
 Current | 733 (57.21%) | 2840 (39.46%) |  < 0.001 |
 Past | 290 (22.59%) | 1906 (26.50%) | |
 Never | 259 (20.20%) | 2450 (34.04%) | |
 Alcohol consumption (%) | |||
 Non-drinker | 782 (60.98%) | 4406 (61.23%) |  < 0.001 |
 Low to moderate drinker | 407 (31.75%) | 1328 (18.45%) | |
 Heavy drinker | 93 (7.27%) | 1462 (20.32%) | |
 Physical activity (%) | |||
 Low | 198 (15.41%) | 1348 (18.73%) |  < 0.001 |
 Moderate | 256 (19.95%) | 1093 (15.20%) | |
 High | 86 (6.74%) | 400 (5.56%) | |
 Not recorded | 742 (57.91%) | 4355 (60.52%) | |
 BMI (kg/m2) | 30.59 ± 7.28 | 27.69 ± 6.55 |  < 0.001 |
 WC (cm) | 104.42 ± 15.97 | 94.99 ± 16.54 |  < 0.001 |
 HbAIC (%) | 5.93 ± 0.89 | 5.51 ± 0.83 |  < 0.001 |
 Albumin (g/dL) | 4.14 ± 0.31 | 4.30 ± 0.33 |  < 0.001 |
 Blood urea nitrogen (mg/dL) | 15.61 ± 7.05 | 12.39 ± 4.84 |  < 0.001 |
 Total calcium (mg/dL) | 9.40 ± 0.42 | 9.45 ± 0.37 | 0.003 |
 Creatinine (mg/dL) | 0.94 ± 0.42 | 0.85 ± 0.27 |  < 0.001 |
 P (mg/dL) | 3.77 ± 0.58 | 3.85 ± 0.62 | 0.002 |
 TG (mg/dL) | 185.75 ± 185.77 | 150.17 ± 124.48 |  < 0.001 |
 Uric acid (mg/dL) | 5.73 ± 1.50 | 5.40 ± 1.37 |  < 0.001 |
 FT3 (pmol/L) | 4.65 ± 0.64 | 5.012 ± 0.84 |  < 0.001 |
 FT4 (pmol/L) | 10.62 ± 2.60 | 10.11 ± 2.02 |  < 0.001 |
 TSH (mIU/L) | 2.16 ± 2.59 | 2.06 ± 3.86 | 0.513 |
 Tg (ng/mL) | 19.60 ± 96.95 | 15.16 ± 31.60 | 0.007 |
 TgAb (IU/mL) | 16.11 ± 111.26 | 10.99 ± 97.56 | 0.202 |
 TPOAb (IU/mL) | 15.40 ± 77.07 | 20.01 ± 86.34 | 0.188 |
 FT3/FT4 | 0.46 ± 0.11 | 0.51 ± 0.14 |  < 0.001 |
 TSHI | 1.90 ± 0.78 | 1.79 ± 0.71 |  < 0.001 |
 TT4RI | 21.73 ± 19.28 | 19.51 ± 19.14 | 0.004 |
 TFQI | 0.07 ± 0.35 | − 0.01 ± 0.32 |  < 0.001 |
 Type of arthritis (%) | |||
 Osteoarthritis | 630 (49.14%) | – |  < 0.001 |
 Rheumatoid arthritis | 383 (29.88%) | – | |
 Psoriatic arthritis | 8 (0.62%) | – | |
 Other | 261 (20.36%) | – | |