Baseline demographic and disease characteristics of the study patients
| Patient No | Age/sex | Duration of disease (years)/RF | Previous DMARDs1-150 | Current DMARDs | Current prednisone dose (mg/day) |
| 1 | 55/F | 18/RF+ | MTX, SSZ, HCQ, gold, MNC, CTX, CSA, CHB | MTX-10 mg/wk | 5 |
| 2 | 66/F | 29/RF+ | MTX, HCQ, gold, MNC | MTX-15 mg/wk, HCQ-400 mg/day, MNC-200 mg/day | 0 |
| 3 | 60/F | 30/RF+ | MTX, SSZ, HCQ, DPA, gold, MNC, AZA, CTX, CSA, CHB | None | 10 |
| 4 | 58/F | 13/RF+ | MTX, SSZ, HCQ, gold, DPA, MNC, AZA, CTX, TLI | MTX-15 mg/wk | 10 |
| 5 | 39/F | 9/RF− | MTX, SSZ, HCQ, MNC | None | 10 |
| 6 | 39/F | 19/RF+ | MTX, SSZ, HCQ, MNC, gold, DPA, AZA, CSA | MTX-45 mg/wk, HCQ-400 mg/day | 5 |
| 7 | 58/F | 6/RF+ | MTX, SSZ, HCQ, gold, MNC, AZA, CSA | None | 8 |
| 8 | 31/F | 27/RF− | MTX, HCQ, MNC, Ridaura | MTX-20 mg/wk, MNC-200 mg/day | 10 |
| 9 | 58/F | 13/RF+ | MTX, SSZ, HCQ, gold, AZA | None | 0 |
| 10 | 63/F | 13/RF+ | MTX, SSZ, HCQ, gold, DPA, MNC, AZA | None | 5 |
↵1-150 MTX = methotrexate; SSZ = sulfasalazine; HCQ = hydroxychloroquine; MNC = minocycline; DPA =d-penicillamine; AZA = azathioprine; CSA = cyclosporin A; CTX = cyclophosphamide; CHB = chlorambucil; TLI = total lymph node irradiation.