Baseline demographics. No statistically significant differences were found when the groups were compared using a Mann-Whitney test or χ2 test, where appropriate
| Gold (n=72) | Methotrexate (n=69) | p Value | |
| Median age, years (IQ1-150 range) | 58 (49–67) | 60 (51–67) | 0.475 |
| Median disease duration, years (IQ range) | 6 (3–15) | 6 (2–11) | 0.778 |
| Median previous DMARDs1-150, No (IQ range) | 1 (1–1.5) | 1 (1–1) | 0.455 |
| Female, No (%) | 58 (81) | 54 (78) | 0.736 |
| RF1-150 positive, No (%) | 46 (64) | 43 (62) | 0.345 |
| ANF1-150positive | 18 | 19 | 0.419 |
| Carstairs 1, 2, or 3 (affluent areas) | 18 | 21 | |
| Carstairs 4 or 5 | 24 | 29 | 0.275 |
| Carstairs 6 or 7 (deprived areas) | 26 | 17 |
↵1-150 IQ = interquartile; DMARDs = disease modifying antirheumatic drugs; RF = rheumatoid factor; ANF = antinuclear factor.
No Carstairs code was available for six patients.