Table 2 Demographic and disease characteristics at baseline of “MTX successes” and “MTX failures”
MTX successes* (n = 79)MTX failures* (n = 162)p Value
Age at diagnosis (years)56 (14)54 (13)0.455
Female sex (%)56770.001†
Time diagnosis inclusion (weeks), median (IQR)3 (1–6)2 (1–4)0.022
Symptom duration (weeks), median (IQR)23 (12–53)26 (15–55)0.367
IgM rheumatoid factor positive (%)62670.420
ESR (mm in 1st hour)39 (27)45 (29)0.142
Tender joints12 (6.8)16 (6.8)<0.001
Swollen joints15 (7.1)15 (6.5)0.709
DAS4.2 (0.9)4.7 (0.8)<0.001†
HAQ (0–3)1.2 (0.7)1.5 (0.6)<0.001
Total Sharp score (0–448 scale), median (IQR)3.5 (1–8.5)4.5 (1.5–9)0.350
Mean (SD)7 (9)7 (8)
Erosions on hand/foot radiograph (%)72740.713
  • *“MTX successes” are patients with a DAS ⩽2.4 after 2 years while still on MTX monotherapy. “MTX failures” are patients who discontinued MTX because of a DAS >2.4 or adverse events. IQR, interquartile range; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; DAS, disease activity score (44 joint count); HAQ, health assessment questionnaire; MTX, methotrexate. Values are given in mean (SD) if not indicated otherwise. When not normally distributed, medians and IQRs of variables are reported. Significance between variables was tested by Student t test for normally distributed continuous variables; Mann-Whitney U test for non-normally distributed variables; χ2 test for dichotomous variables. For total Sharp score, both median (IQR) and mean (SD) are given; significance was tested by the Mann-Whitney U test. †Independent predictor for “MTX failure” after logistic regression analysis.