Baseline characteristics
| Duration of pred use | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Never (n=58) | <3 months (n=8) | ≥3 months (n=41) | p | |
| Female | 46 (79.3%) | 5 (62.5%) | 28 (68.3%) | 0.249 |
| Age (years) | 50.66±11.86 | 48.25±16.4 | 57.61±10.24 | 0.004 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 22.80±3.56 | 22.27±2.19 | 23.55±3.84 | 0.496 |
| RF+ve | 46 (79.3%) | 6 (75.0%) | 32 (80.0%) | 0.950 |
| AntiCCP+ve | 41 (83.7%) | 4 (80.0%) | 31 (83.8%) | 0.976 |
| Osteoporosis | 14 (24.1%) | 2 (25.0%) | 14 (34.1%) | 0.540 |
| Disease duration | 10.80±11.41 | 7.49±3.99 | 6.73±6.11 | 0.032 |
| Tender joints | 6.77±5.19 | 6.25±4.17 | 9.85±7.92 | 0.218 |
| Swollen joints | 4.05±3.70 | 4.13±2.85 | 5.98±5.17 | 0.146 |
| ESR (mm/1st hr) | 56.93±35.62 | 40.75±18.97 | 62.20±35.72 | 0.387 |
| CRP (mg/L) | 15.18±21.68 | 14.8619.56 | 27.31±34.77 | 0.265 |
| DAS-CRP | 4.28±1.20 | 4.40±1.03 | 4.95±1.41 | 0.042 |
| DAS remission | 3 (5.3%) | 0 (0.0%) | 2 (4.9%) | 0.436 |
| Pred | 0 (0.0%) | 5 (62.5%) | 25 (61.0%) | <0.001 |
| Osteoporotic drug | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | 2 (5.6%) | 0.172 |
| DMARDS | 30 (54.5%) | 4 (57.1%) | 13 (36.1%) | 0.332 |
| Biologics | 0 (0.00%) | 0 (0.00%) | 0 (0.00%) | – |
| NSAID | 40 (72.7%) | 5 (71.4%) | 28 (77.8%) | 0.766 |