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Matched pairs analysis: patients' characteristics and rates of remission at 12 months. |
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| BIOL |
CON |
p valuea |
|
|
|
|||
| N |
193 |
193 |
|
| Characteristics at baseline |
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| Age |
54.7 (12.1) |
55.9 (10.3) |
0.50 |
| Female (%) |
83.4 |
79.8 |
0.43 |
| Rheumatoid factor positive (%) |
82.4 |
79.8 |
0.60 |
| Swollen joint count |
8.7 (6.1) |
8.8 (5.5) |
0.59 |
| Tender joint count |
11.3 (7.3) |
11.4 (6.8) |
0.61 |
| ESR (mm/h), median (IQR) |
22 (13–40) |
24 (15–40) |
0.37 |
| CRP (mg/L), median (IQR) |
14 (6–28) |
12 (5–29) |
0.19 |
| DAS28 |
6.1 (1.1) |
6.1 (1.1) |
0.54 |
| FFbH |
59.3 (21.1) |
58.9 (22.6) |
0.92 |
| No. previous DMARDs |
3.1 (1.1) |
3.0 (1.0) |
0.74 |
| Propensity score |
0.63 (0.19) |
0.63 (0.19) |
- |
| Remission at 12 months, n (%) |
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| DAS28 Remission |
48 (24.9%) |
24 (12.4%) |
0.004 |
| Remission according to modified ARA criteria |
31 (16.1%) |
16 (8.3%) |
0.036 |
|
In this analysis pairs of BIOL and CON patients who differed by less than 0.05 on the propensity score scale were included. Values are means and standard deviations if not otherwise specified. aMann-Whitney test and chi-square test were applied as appropriate for the comparision of the baseline characteristics and McNemar test for the comparison of the remission rates. ARA, American Rheumatology Association; BIOL, patients treated with biologics; CON, patients receiving conventional DMARD treatment (control group); CRP, C-reactive protein; DAS28, disease activity score based on 28 joint counts; DMARD, disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; FFbH, Funktionsfragebogen Hannover (Hannover Functional Status Questionnaire); IQR, inter quartile range. | |||
Listing et al. Arthritis Research & Therapy 2006 8:R66 doi:10.1186/ar1933 |
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