Description of the 505 patients participating in the weighting process
| Characteristic | Mean (SD), (range) or N (%)* | Range across countries of mean (SD) or %† |
| Female, N (%) | 411 (82.5%) | 72.0–97.3% |
| Age (years) | 55.9 (13.2), (20.3–86.9) | 48.5 (15.1)–60.4 (15.3) |
| Symptom duration (years) | 14.5 (10.3), (1.3–57.0) | 12.3 (10.6)–16.8 (11.0) |
| Formal education (years) | 11.5 (4.5), (0–20) | 7.4 (3.7)–14.5 (3.4) |
| Employed full-time or part-time when symptoms started, N (%) | 293 (58.9%) | 48.0–72.0% |
| Currently employed full-time or part-time, N (%) | 149 (28.6%) | 14.0–54.0% |
| Work disabled, N (%) | 190 (41.0%) | 30.4–68.1% |
| HAQ | 1.23 (0.78), (0–3) | 1.00 (0.74)–1.56 (0.80) |
| Pain VAS over 1 week (0–100) | 44 (29), (0–100) | 30 (22)–55 (25) |
| Patient global assessment VAS (0–100) | 43 (25), (0–100) | 32 (22)–50 (27) |
| Disease activity assessment over 6 months VAS (0–100) | 45 (27), (0–100) | 36 (24)–60 (24) |
| Fatigue VAS over 1 week (0–100) | 46 (28), (0–100) | 38 (27)–51 (32) |
| Morning stiffness duration (min) | 70 (130), (0–360) | 28 (31)–87 (75) |
| SF36 aggregated physical score | 34.4 (10.4), (10.3–62.0) | 28.1 (10.1)–37.4 (11.0) |
| SF36 aggregated emotional score | 46.5 (12.2), (13.4–71.4) | 41.6 (12.4)–51.6 (11.6) |
*Results are presented as mean (SD) unless otherwise stated. Percentages are % of available data.
†Range of means or percentages: minimum and maximum values for means or percentages observed in participating countries.
HAQ, Health Assessment Questionnaire; SF36, Short Form 36 generic quality of life scale; VAS, visual analogue scale.