Characteristics of patient population at clinic entry
| DMARDs, disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; NSAIDs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. | |
| Number of patients | 625 |
| Female/male | 272/353 |
| Median (range) age (years) | 34 (9–86) |
| Median (range) duration of arthritis (years) | 4.5 (0–47.7) |
| Median (range) number of tender joints (all joints) | 4 (0–43) |
| Median (range) number of tender joints (hands and feet) | 3 (0–35) |
| Median (range) number of swollen joints (all joints) | 2 (0–33) |
| Median (range) number of swollen joints (hands and feet) | 1 (0–28) |
| Median (range) ESR rate | 22.5 (0–105) |
| Functional class | |
| Good (I) | 29.3% (183) |
| Medium (II) | 59.2% (370) |
| Poor (III, IV) | 11.5% (72) |
| Damaged joints (all joints) | |
| None | 62.2% (389) |
| 1–4 | 20.8% (130) |
| 5–9 | 5.9% (37) |
| >9 | 11.1% (69) |
| Damaged joints (hands and feet) | |
| None | 68.3% (427) |
| 1–4 | 17.3% (108) |
| 5–9 | 5% (31) |
| >9 | 9.4% (59) |
| Drugs | |
| None | 24.3% (152) |
| NSAIDs | 30.6% (191) |
| DMARDs | 40.5% (253) |
| Steroids | 4.6% (29) |