Some characteristics of the patient groups. Values are numbers or median (range)
| Non-destructive group | Destructive group |
Difference (P value) | |
| No of patients (females/males) | 25 (10/15) | 18 (6/12) | NS |
| Age at sample 1 (years) | 50.0 (21.8 to 75.2) | 52.0 (20.2 to 72.4) | NS |
| Disease duration at sample 1 (years) | 1.5 (0.5 to 4.0) | 1.0 (0.2 to 6.0) | 0.05 |
| Disease duration at first joint surgery (years) | - | 5.5 (2.6 to 9.2) | - |
| Disease duration at radiographic follow up (years) | 9.0 (6.8 to 13.4) | - | - |
| Waaler-Rose titre (positive/negative) | 21/4 | 14/4 | NS |
| Available samples/patient by aspiration before administration of glucocorticoids | 2 (1-7) | 4 (1-11) | 0.02 |
| NSAID treatment at sample 1 | 22 | 17 | NS |
| SARD treatment at sample 1 | 6 | 4 | NS |
| Oral glucocorticoid treatment at sample 1 | 2 | 1 | NS |
NSAID, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug; SARD, slow acting antirheumatic drug.