Oral Complementary Medicine Use among People with Inflammatory Arthritis: An Australian Rheumatology Association Database Analysis
Table 1
Demographic and clinical details of Australian Rheumatology Association Database (ARAD) participants by disease group at baseline and their complementary medicine use, .
Variable
Rheumatoid arthritis ()
Psoriatic arthritis ()
Ankylosing spondylitis ()
Juvenile arthritis ()
Mean (SD)
Mean (SD)
Mean (SD)
Mean (SD)
Mean (SD) age (years)
56.8 (13.0)
52.3 (12.3)
45.8 (12.7)
13.4 (6.9)
Disease duration (years)
12.7 (10.8)
10.7 (9.3)
12.4 (11.1)
5.8 (6.4)
HAQ (0-3)a
1.2 (0.8)
0.9 (0.7)
0.7 (0.6)
0.7 (0.7)
AQoL (0-1)a
0.5 (0.2)
0.6 (0.2)
0.6 (0.2)
0.6 (0.3)
EQ-5D (UK) (0-1)a
0.6 (0.3)
0.6 (0.3)
0.6 (0.3)
0.7 (0.2)
SF-36 PCS (0-100)a
31.4 (10.7)
35.1 (11.1)
38.2 (10.9)
41.4 (11.3)
SF-36 MCS (0-100)a
45.5 (12.0)
46.4 (11.8)
46.0 (11.1)
50.3 (9.6)
Pain in last week (0-100)a
47.4 (26.4)
45.3 (25.9)
39.5 (27.9)
31.8 (27.9)
Arthritis condition in last week (0-100)a
45.2 (26.2)
45.0 (26.7)
39.9 (26.6)
40.2 (26.2)
N (%)
N (%)
N (%)
N (%)
Female
2,911 (73.5)
446 (59.5)
247 (33.6)
128 (69.2)
Education
Not completed secondary
1,096 (28.9)
158 (21.1)
124 (17.2)
133 (79.6)
Secondary
1,277 (33.6)
204 (27.3)
199 (27.6)
21 (12.6)
Tertiary
1,424 (37.5)
386 (51.6)
397 (55.1)
13 (7.8)
Employment
Working
1,415 (37.2)
413 (55.2)
482 (67.1)
24 (14.6)
Not working/home duties/student/retired/other
1,907 (50.1)
267 (35.7)
184 (25.6)
139 (84.8)
Permanently unable/ill
485 (12.7)
68 (9.1)
52 (7.2)
1 (0.6)
Socioeconomic index
SEIFA 1 lowest
580 (15.0)
90 (12.5)
76 (10.7)
25 (13.8)
SEIFA 2
726 (18.8)
126 (17.5)
114 (16.0)
24 (13.3)
SEIFA 3
788 (20.4)
144 (20.0)
150 (21.1)
42 (23.2)
SEIFA 4
891 (23.1)
169 (23.5)
165 (23.2)
38 (21.0)
SEIFA 5 highest
877 (22.7)
191 (26.5)
206 (29.0)
52 (28.7)
Current private health insurance
2,182 (55.1)
489 (65.3)
443 (60.2)
101 (54.6)
Current smoker
544 (13.8)
87 (11.6)
121 (16.4)
4 (2.4)
Alcohol use
Never
1,455 (36.8)
143 (19.1)
144 (19.6)
137 (82.0)
Sometimes
2,040 (51.5)
499 (66.6)
484 (65.8)
30 (18.0)
Everyday
464 (11.7)
107 (14.3)
108 (14.7)
0 (0.0)
Current opioid use (potency)
No
2678 (67.6%)
529 (70.6%)
525 (71.3%)
166 (89.7%)
Yes (low)
861 (21.7%)
129 (17.2%)
157 (21.3%)
15 (8.1%)
Yes (high)
421 (10.6%)
91 (12.1%)
54 (7.3%)
4 (2.2%)
Current NSAID use
No
2409 (60.8%)
360 (48.1%)
364 (49.5%)
118 (63.8%)
Yes
1551 (39.2%)
389 (51.9%)
372 (50.5%)
67 (36.2%)
Current b/tsDMARD
2,125 (53.7)
377 (50.3)
532 (72.3)
99 (53.5)
Prednisoloneb
Current
1,756 (44.3)
179 (23.9)
77 (10.5)
44 (23.8)
Past
818 (20.7)
225 (30.0)
214 (29.1)
72 (38.9)
Methotrexateb
Current
2,463 (62.2)
424 (56.6)
95 (12.9)
123 (66.5)
Past
732 (18.5)
259 (34.6)
156 (21.2)
44 (23.8)
Number of complementary medicines
0
2,458 (62.1)
415 (55.4)
455 (61.8)
146 (78.9)
1
854 (21.6)
198 (26.4)
160 (21.7)
26 (14.1)
2
426 (10.8)
81 (10.8)
80 (10.9)
10 (5.4)
≥3
222 (5.6)
55 (7.3)
41 (5.6)
3 (1.6)
aHigher score = poorer function, bBalance never or do not know. HAQ: Health Assessment Questionnaire; AQoL: Assessment of Quality of Life; EQ-5D (UK): European Quality of Life; SF-36 PCS: Medical Outcomes Survey Short Form—physical component score; SF-36 MCS: Medical Outcomes Survey Short Form—mental component score; SEIFA: Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas; NSAID: nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug; b/tsDMARD: biologic/targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug.
