Table 1

Comparison of patient characteristics, RA disease activity measures and treatment-related variables in the QUEST–RA study in “high GDP” and “low GDP” countries

Total“High GDP” countries“Low GDP” countriesp Value*
N600437192285
Patient characteristics
    Female, %79%75%86%<0.001
    Age, years, mean565854<0.001
    Education, years, median1111110.16
    Smoking now, %17%19%14%<0.001
    BMI, mean2626260.63
    Disease duration, years, mean1111110.038
Disease activity measures
    DAS28 (0–9.1), mean4.23.75.1<0.001
Physician
    SJC (0–28), median214<0.001
    TJC (0–28), median428<0.001
    Physician global (0–10), median2.41.73.7<0.001
Patient self-report
    HAQ physical function (0–3) median0.880.751.3<0.001
    Pain VAS (0–10), median4.13.34.9<0.001
    Patient global VAS (0–10), median4.23.24.9<0.001
    Psychological HAQ (0–3), mean0.820.71.3<0.001
Laboratory/imaging
    ESR, median221830<0.001
    RF-positive, %74%72%76%0.001
Erosive disease, %63%58%72%<0.001
    In patients with disease duration ⩽2 years23%40%<0.001
    In patients with disease duration ⩾10 years79%84%0.001
Treatment-related variables
    Patients taking DMARD ever, %97%97%97%0.75
    Delay to start a DMARD, months, median9990.063
    No of DMARD ever taken, mean2.72.82.5<0.001
    Methotrexate ever, % of patients85%86%84%<0.001
    Methotrexate now, % of patients63%63%62%0.36
    Prednisone ever, % of patients71%66%80%<0.001
    Prednisone now, % of patients49%42%60%<0.001
    Biologicals ever, % of patients23%31%9.4%<0.001
    Biologicals now, % of patients18%25%7.5%<0.001
    Any DMARD, % of disease duration72%75%67%0.085
    Methotrexate, % of disease duration31%32%30%0.18
    Biologicals, % of disease duration3.9%5.6%1.8%0.001
  • *Unadjusted p values are presented. BMI, body mass index; DAS28, disease activity score in 28 joints; DMARD, disease-modifying antirheumatic drug; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; GDP, gross domestic product; HAQ, health assessment questionnaire; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; RF, rheumatoid factor; SJC, swollen joint count; TJC, tender joint count; VAS, visual analogue scale.