Table 1

 Baseline characteristics of patients’ and comparison of the different outcome measures evaluating the effects of treatment

PlaceboInfliximabDifference between groups
CRP, C reactive protein; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; HLA, human leucocyte antigen; NS, not significant; VAS, visual analogue scale.
*Values are the median (range); †Values are number of patients in each category; ‡Values are the mean (SD); §Exact γ statistic; ¶Fisher’s exact test; **t test; ††Paired sample t test; ‡‡Mann–Whitney U test;
Baseline characteristics
Age (years)*47 (39–63)48 (30–65)NS
Men/women†4:55:4NS
Disease duration (years)*5 (3–26)5 (1–18)NS
Patient’s global assessment VAS*47 (24–97)66 (42–84)NS
Physician’s global assessment VAS*65 (51–77)65 (60–85)NS
66 swollen joint count*8 (1–17)9 (3–14)NS
28 swollen joint count*4 (1–7)5 (1–9)NS
28 tender joint count*5 (1–10)4 (1–8)NS
ESR (mm/at the end of the first hour)*8 (4–43)11 (1–26)NS
CRP (mg/dl)*0.8 (0.27–1.51)0.96 (0–2.41)NS
DAS28 ‡3.78 (1.16)4.32 (1.21)NS
HLA B27 positive/negative†3/62/7NS
Effects of treatment
mACR no/20/50/70 responders†8/0/1/00/3/2/3γ = 0.861 ±0.142 p = 0.002§
mACR20 responders (no/yes)†8/11/8OR 28 (95% CI 2.1 to 379) p = 0.015¶
No/moderate/good DAS28 response†7/2/00/1/7γ  = 0.944 ±0.067 p = 0.001§
Moderate DAS28 response (no/yes)†7/20/8OR 28 (95%CI: 2.1 to379) p = 0.015¶
PsARC response: (no/yes)†7/20/9p = 0.002¶
Remaining DAS28 score at week 12*3.91 (1.48)2.06 (0.84)p = 0.007**
Difference in DAS28 score between baseline and week 12*+0.127 (0.84) p = NS††−2.26 (1.33) p = 0.001††
Area under the curve−0.95−29.31p = 0.006‡‡