Table 1

Characteristics of patients withdrawn from labour force after diagnosis and patients still in paid employment

Variable	Category	% RA patients withdrawn from labour force after diagnosis (n=343)	% RA patients in paid employment at time of study (n=377)
Sex (%)^1-150	Male	29.9	43.9

Age at time of study (years)^1-150		20–29	1.8	6.2
		30–39	10.2	14.9
		40–49	27.5	42.7
		50–59	60.2	36.2

Educational level^1-150		Primary	52.0	32.5
		Secondary	39.9	47.3
		Higher vocational education/university	8.1	20.2

Age at diagnosis of RA (years)		<20	8.2	9.6
		20–29	21.9	19.5
		30–39	28.5	32.3
		40–49	30.2	30.9
		50–59	11.2	7.6

Disease duration at time of study (years)^1-150		2–5	19.3	32.1
		6–10	23.9	32.8
		11–15	17.8	17.3
		16–20	17.0	9.5
		>20	22.0	8.4

Disease activity^1-150	RADAI (mean 0–10)	4.9	3.5

Functional ability^1-150	HAQ (mean 0–3)	1.3	0.7

Duration of labour force participation after diagnosis with RA (years)^1-150		0–1	45.4	1.7
		2–4	18.5	23.0
		5–7	13.3	26.0
		8–12	11.3	25.0
		>12	11.5	24.3

Work disability pension		⩾80% disabled	68.9	NA
Work disability pension		<80% disabled^1-150	25.5	14.4

↵1-150 Differences between group means and distributions are statistically significant (p<0.05).
NA = not applicable.