Baseline demographic, disease activity parameters, and cumulative gold dose according to disease duration
| Disease duration | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group 1 (0–2 years) | Group 2 (>2–5 years) | Group 3 (>5 years) | |||||||
| Completers (n=44) | Non-completers (n=58) | Completers (n=37) | Non-completers (n=56) | Completers (n=79) | Non-completers (n=156) | ||||
| Age (y) | 53 (44–60) | 53 (38–63) | 54 (44–64) | 54 (46–63) | 57* (50–65) | 60* (54–66) | |||
| Sex (% female) | 75 | 88 | 85 | 82 | 79 | 78 | |||
| Rheumatoid factor (% positive) | 77 | 71 | 81 | 80 | 81 | 86 | |||
| HAQ score | 1.88 (1.32–2.38) | 2.00 (1.63–2.38) | 1.75 (1.19–2.25) | 1.82 (1.38–2.25) | 2.00 (1.38–2.38) | 2.13 (1.63–2.50) | |||
| Duration of morning stiffness (min) | 120 (60–240) | 120 (60–300) | 120 (60–300) | 120 (60–240) | 120 (60–300) | 120 (60–300) | |||
| Pain (VAS) | 170 (110–210) | 190 (150–240) | 180 (150–210) | 190 (150–230) | 185 (150–223) | 200 (150–248) | |||
| Ritchie articular index | 12 (9–19) | 16 (9–21) | 11 (5–18) | 13 (9–17) | 13 (5–19) | 14 (9–20) | |||
| ESR (mm 1st h) | 50 (40–99) | 72 (49–106) | 49 (26–74) | 52 (30–85) | 56 (30–80) | 55 (37–79) | |||
| C reactive protein (mg/l) | 38 (19–89) | 53 (23–85) | 32 (10–65) | 33 (18–65) | 38 (18–72) | 36 (20–61) | |||
| Cumulative gold dose at 5 years (mg) | 4240 (3248–5432) | — | 4455 (3803–5410) | — | 4525 (3764–5408) | — | |||
Medians and interquartile ranges are shown. There are no differences between the responder groups (Kruskal–Wallis). The only difference within the groups between responders and non-responders is indicated (*p=0.03, Mann–Whitney).