Prednisolone group, n = 64 | No prednisolone group, n = 86 | p Value | |
Age, years* | 53 (14) | 57 (12) | 0.027 |
Female sex | 64.1% | 65.1% | 0.894 |
Duration of rheumatoid arthritis (months)* | 6 (4) | 6 (3) | 0.633 |
Rheumatoid factor positivity | 64.1% | 63,5% | 0.947 |
DAS28* | 5.4 (1.25) | 5.5 (0.99) | 0.629 |
HAQ score* | 1.03 (0.56) | 0.98 (0.61) | 0.608 |
Total Sharp score† | 1.0 (0.0–4.5) | 1.3 (0.0–5.0) | 0.795 |
Erosion score† | 0.5 (0.0–1.5) | 0.5 (0.0–1.8) | 0.858 |
Joint space narrowing† | 0.0 (0.0–3.0) | 1.0 (0.0–3.0) | 0.541 |
L2–4, BMD* | 1.18 (0.15) | 1.19 (0.21) | 0.72 |
L2–4, Z-score* | 0.33 (1.09) | 0.85 (1.68) | 0.023 |
Femur neck, BMD* | 0.92 (0.15) | 0.93 (0.16) | 0.50 |
Femur neck, Z-score* | 0.17 (1.06) | 0.39 (1.07) | 0.21 |
BMD, bone mineral density; DAS28, 28-joint count disease activity score; HAQ, Health Assessment Questionnaire.
p Values in bold are those that are significant.
*Values are mean (SD).
†Medians with interquartile ranges.