NOR-DMARD database: discrimination between patients with high versus low disease activity according to the physician global assessment at baseline and after 6 months of treatment and being in an acceptable symptom state according to the patient after 6 months of treatment
| Physician global at baseline | Physician global after 6 months | PASS after 6 months | |||||||
| High (>6)(n = 28–90) | Low (<4)(n = 83–336) | SMD | High (⩾4)(n = 9–37) | Low (<4)(n = 53–297) | SMD | Yes(n = 34–182) | No(n = 22–102) | SMD | |
| Back pain, morning stiffness, patient global, ESR, CRP | 4.8 (1.1) | 3.3 (1.0) | 1.47 | 3.8 (1.0) | 2.1 (0.9) | 1.87 | 1.7 (0.7) | 3.2 (1.0) | 1.85 |
| Back pain, morning stiffness, patient global, pain/swelling peripheral, ESR | 4.2 (1.0) | 2.9 (0.8) | 1.55 | 3.5 (1.1) | 1.7 (0.9) | 1.96 | 1.4 (0.7) | 2.8 (1.1) | 1.67 |
| Back pain, morning stiffness, patient global, pain/swelling peripheral, CRP | 4.5 (0.9) | 3.2 (1.0) | 1.33 | 3.5 (0.7) | 1.9 (1.0) | 1.65 | 1.5 (0.7) | 3.0 (1.0) | 1.85 |
| Back pain, morning stiffness, fatigue, ESR, CRP | 4.9 (1.1) | 3.5 (1.0) | 1.37 | 4.0 (0.9) | 2.2 (0.9) | 2.00 | 1.8 (0.7) | 3.3 (1.0) | 1.85 |
| BASDAI | 6.5 (1.5) | 5.3 (2.0) | 0.63 | 5.6 (1.9) | 2.9 (1.9) | 1.42 | 1.8 (1.1) | 4.8 (2.1) | 2.05 |
| BASDAI 1: fatigue | 6.3 (2.3) | 6.1 (2.8) | 0.07 | 6.2 (1.8) | 3.6 (2.2) | 1.21 | 2.5 (1.8) | 5.6 (1.9) | 1.68 |
| BASDAI 2: back pain | 7.6 (2.0) | 6.1 (2.4) | 0.65 | 5.7 (1.9) | 3.4 (2.6) | 0.92 | 2.2 (1.6) | 5.3 (2.7) | 1.50 |
| BASDAI 3: pain/swelling peripheral joints | 5.6 (2.9) | 4.0 (2.8) | 0.57 | 5.6 (2.8) | 2.1 (3.4) | 1.06 | 1.4 (1.9) | 3.8 (3.1) | 1.00 |
| BASDAI 4: enthesitis | 5.9 (3.3) | 4.6 (2.8) | 0.45 | 5.1 (2.8) | 2.5 (2.4) | 1.06 | 1.2 (1.4) | 4.6 (2.8) | 1.70 |
| BASDAI 5: severity morning stiffness | 7.2 (2.6) | 5.9 (3.2) | 0.42 | 5.4 (2.5) | 2.7 (2.4) | 1.12 | 1.7 (1.7) | 4.7 (2.7) | 1.41 |
| BASDAI 6: duration morning stiffness | 6.8 (3.3) | 5.9 (3.2) | 0.28 | 5.7 (3.6) | 2.9 (2.5) | 1.05 | 1.8 (1.6) | 5.0 (3.1) | 1.43 |
| BASDAI 5/6: morning stiffness | 6.9 (2.7) | 5.9 (2.7) | 0.37 | 5.6 (3.0) | 2.8 (2.3) | 1.17 | 1.8 (1.5) | 4.8 (2.8) | 1.46 |
| Patient global | 7.0 (2.0) | 5.3 (2.3) | 0.76 | 6.2 (2.5) | 3.0 (2.2) | 1.43 | 2.4 (1.9) | 4.8 (2.6) | – |
| Physician global | 5.6 (1.3) | 2.6 (0.89) | – | 5.1 (1.1) | 1.3 (1.0) | – | 1.2 (1.1) | 2.2 (1.7) | 0.76 |
| ESR | 44.3 (31.0) | 20.9 (18.4) | 1.11 | 27.6 (29.2) | 12.9 (9.5) | 1.26 | 12.0 (14.0) | 17 (21.8) | 0.30 |
| CRP | 47.2 (51.1) | 15.7 (16.9) | 1.30 | 24.1 (34.9) | 8.6 (11.0) | 1.14 | 7.7 (9.2) | 12.8 (23.6) | 0.35 |
Values shown as mean (SD). Since too few patients had a physician global value of >6 after 6 months, the cut-off level for “high disease activity” was set at a patient global value of >4.
BASDAI, Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index; CRP, C-reactive protein; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; PASS, patients in acceptable symptom state; SMD, standardised mean difference.