Baseline characteristics and values after 1 year of treatment in patients with early RA
| Treatment | MTX (n = 56) | SSZ (n = 55) | AUR (n = 19) | Control (n = 19) | p* Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results are shown as mean (SD) unless indicated otherwise. | |||||
| *Analysis of variance followed by post hoc Bonferroni’s test; †based on a 28 joint count; ‡estimated by (VAS 0–10 cm. | |||||
| Demographic characteristics | |||||
| Age (years) | 63.4 (13.0) | 53.6 (15.9) | 59.1 (13.1) | 50.2 (16.3) | 0.001 |
| Men, No (%) | 16 (29) | 24 (44) | 7 (37) | 4 (21) | |
| Women, No (%) | 40 (71) | 31 (56) | 12 (63) | 15 (79) | |
| Disease duration (months) | 6.8 (3.9) | 6.5 (3.6) | 7.0 (4.4) | 6.5 (4.2) | 0.8 |
| Clinical baseline values | |||||
| ESR (mm/1st h) | 29.5 (20.3) | 28.2 (23.1) | 16.3 (9.6) | 29.9 (21.9) | 0.1 |
| CRP (mg/l) | 32 (40) | 19 (18) | 11 (9) | 29 (32) | 0.03 |
| DAS28 | 5.4 (1.1) | 4.8 (1.1) | 4.1 (0.9) | 5.0 (1.0) | 0.001 |
| HAQ | 1.1 (0.6) | 0.8 (0.5) | 0.8 (0.5) | 1.1 (0.6) | 0.01 |
| †SJC | 11.0 (5.6) | 10.3 (5.8) | 4.5 (3.5) | 7.6 (5.4) | 0.001 |
| †TJC | 9.8 (6.2) | 7.5 (6.0) | 4.6 (3.7) | 7.2 (5.5) | 0.008 |
| ‡Pain | 4.8 (2.3) | 3.7 (2.1) | 3.9 (2.5) | 5.3 (2.6) | 0.02 |
| ‡Patient’s assessment | 4.5 (2.4) | 3.7 (2.5) | 4.4 (2.4) | 5.6 (2.7) | 0.1 |
| Larsen score | 15.6 (9.6) | 12.9 (9.4) | 9.6 (7.0) | 9.7 (7.7) | 0.03 |
| Clinical values after 1 year of treatment | |||||
| ESR (mm/1st h) | 19.5 (16.8) | 15.6 (16.5) | 12.3 (9.2) | 19.8 (17.1) | 0.001 |
| CRP (mg/l) | 17 (26) | 12 (13) | 9 (7) | 19 (23) | 0.001 |
| DAS28 | 3.8 (1.5) | 3.2 (1.5) | 3.1 (1.2) | 4.2 (1.2) | 0.001 |
| HAQ | 0.8 (0.5) | 0.5 (0.5) | 0.7 (0.5) | 1.0 (0.6) | 0.001 |
| †SJC | 4.8 (5.4) | 4.0 (5.0) | 2.3 (2.9) | 5.0 (4.6) | 0.001 |
| †TJC | 4.6 (5.3) | 3.5 (4.8) | 2.7 (3.5) | 5.5 (4.9) | 0.001 |
| ‡Pain | 3.6 (2.4) | 2.8 (2.4) | 3.1 (2.2) | 4.4 (2.5) | 0.001 |
| ‡Patient’s assessment | 3.5 (2.4) | 2.8 (2.3) | 3.3 (2.4) | 4.5 (2.6) | 0.001 |
| Larsen score | 23.2 (11.3) | 18.9 (12.6) | 18.9 (9.8) | 20.0 (8.5) | 0.2 |