Clinical trials: discrimination between patients treated with TNF blockers and placebo and sensitivity to change over 3 months
| TNF(n = 86) | Placebo(n = 91) | SMD | t score | Guyatt’s ES | |
| Back pain, morning stiffness, patient global, ESR, CRP | −1.98 (1.34) | −0.29 (0.80) | 1.59 | 10.2 | 2.5 |
| Back pain, morning stiffness, patient global, pain/swelling peripheral, ESR | −1.79 (1.21) | −0.27 (0.82) | 1.51 | 9.9 | 2.2 |
| Back pain, morning stiffness, patient global, pain/swelling peripheral, CRP | −1.91 (1.31) | −0.35 (0.79) | 1.50 | 9.7 | 2.4 |
| Back pain, morning stiffness, fatigue, ESR, CRP | −1.93 (1.29) | −0.29 (0.82) | 1.56 | 10.1 | 2.4 |
| BASDAI | −3.05 (2.37) | −0.68 (1.99) | 1.09 | 7.2 | 1.5 |
| BASDAI 1: fatigue | −2.43 (2.74) | −0.57 (2.14) | 0.77 | 4.8 | 1.1 |
| BASDAI 2: back pain | −3.67 (2.90) | −1.08 (2.36) | 0.99 | 6.2 | 1.6 |
| BASDAI 3: pain/swelling peripheral joints | −2.62 (3.05) | −0.63 (3.25) | 0.63 | 4.0 | 0.8 |
| BASDAI 4: enthesitis | −2.95 (3.19) | −0.61 (3.06) | 0.75 | 4.7 | 1.0 |
| BASDAI 5: severity morning stiffness | −3.81 (3.03) | −1.02 (2.37) | 1.04 | 6.5 | 1.6 |
| BASDAI 6: duration morning stiffness | −2.83 (2.83) | −0.89 (1.95) | 0.82 | 5.1 | 1.5 |
| BASDAI 5/6: morning stiffness | −3.32 (2.70) | −0.96 (1.92) | 1.03 | 6.4 | 1.7 |
| Patient global | −3.55 (2.88) | −0.77 (2.26) | 1.09 | 7.2 | 1.6 |
| Physician global | −3.50 (2.36) | −0.87 (1.90) | 1.24 | 8.2 | 1.8 |
| ESR | −20.8 (20.9) | −0.80 (13.5) | 1.17 | 7.6 | 1.5 |
| CRP | −17.9 (24.8) | −2.90 (11.7) | 0.83 | 5.2 | 1.5 |
Values shown as mean (SD).
BASDAI, Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index; CRP, C-reactive protein; ES, effect size; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; SMD, standardised mean difference; TNF, tumour necrosis factor.