Comparison of demographic characteristics and markers of disease activity and severity between non-sicca and sicca groups (n=631)4-150
| Non-sicca group (no symptoms) | Moderate sicca group (⩾ one symptom from eyes and mouth) | Severe sicca group (⩾ two symptoms from eyes and mouth) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (n=248) | (n=172) | p value‡ | (n=60) | p value‡ | ||||||
| Dryness | ||||||||||
| Unstimulated whole saliva (ml) | 4.85 (3.03) | 3.49 (2.84) | <0.001 | 2.55 (2.48) | <0.001 | |||||
| Schirmer-I test (mm) | 16.2 (12.0) | 12.0 (11.3) | <0.01 | 10.6 (10.7) | 0.01 | |||||
| Demographic features | ||||||||||
| Age (y) | 50.8 (12.7) | 55.9 (11.1) | <0.001 | 56.5 (12.1) | <0.01 | |||||
| Female % | 78.6 | 84.9 | 0.11 | 86.7 | 0.16 | |||||
| Disease duration (y) | 11.4 (9.0) | 13.8 (10.0) | 0.01 | 15.0 (10.1) | 0.01 | |||||
| Rheumatoid factor positive | 51.3 | 50.6 | 0.89 | 50.0 | 0.86 | |||||
| Xerogenic drugs (used %)† | 13.7 | 27.3 | <0.001 | 33.3 | <0.001 | |||||
| Disease activity | ||||||||||
| ESR (mm 1st h) | 20.4 (16.5) | 20.4 (18.3) | 0.96 | 21.1 (16.3) | 0.76 | |||||
| C-reactive protein (mg/dl) | 12.8 (13.3) | 12.7 (13.3) | 0.07 | 11.8 (9.2) | 0.50 | |||||
| Swollen joint count (0–28) | 7.2 (6.3) | 7.5 (5.7) | 0.56 | 7.7 (6.3) | 0.55 | |||||
| Tender joint count (0–28) | 4.9 (5.9) | 8.4 (6.8) | <0.001 | 11.2 (7.4) | <0.001 | |||||
| Patient’s global assessment (range 1–5) | 2.34 (0.90) | 2.84 (0.83) | <0.001 | 3.07 (0.83) | <0.001 | |||||
| Investigator’s global (100 mm VAS) | 27.0 (25.9) | 31.8 (24.0) | 0.06 | 34.4 (26.9) | 0.06 | |||||
| Disease activity score | 3.97 (1.59) | 4.69 (1.25) | <0.001 | 5.04 (1.33) | <0.001 | |||||
| Damage | ||||||||||
| Deformed joint count (0–18) | 1.8 (3.5) | 1.9 (3.5) | 0.91 | 1.6 (3.2) | 0.64 | |||||
| Health status | ||||||||||
| MHAQ (1–4) | 1.44 (0.44) | 1.77 (0.52) | <0.001 | 1.92 (0.55) | <0.001 | |||||
| Pain (100 mm VAS) | 28.5 (22.4) | 41.0 (21.6) | <0.001 | 46.1 (23.7) | <0.001 | |||||
| Fatigue (100 mm VAS) | 32.9 (27.6) | 53.3 (26.5) | <0.001 | 59.1 (24.8) | <0.001 | |||||
↵4-150 Mean (SD) for continuous or % for categorical variables.†Drugs with potential to induce sicca complaints in eyes or mouth (β blockers, diuretics, antidepressants, neuroleptics, antihistamines, adrenergic agents, atropine, opioids or other specific drugs). ‡p value compared with non-sicca group.