Measures of disease activity at 3 and 6 months of the initially aggressively treated patients with early rheumatoid arthritis sorted according to the number of criteria of treatment failure fulfilled at 5 years. For statistical significance, the crude value and the value adjusted by baseline age, sex, and seropositivity for rheumatoid factor are presented. Values are mean (± SD) unless otherwise specified.
| Characteristics | No. Criteria | p* | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0, n = 45 | 1, n = 30 | 2–4, n = 18 | Crude | Adjusted | |
| Measures of disease activity at 3 mos | |||||
| No. swollen joints | 1 (2) | 1 (2) | 4 (4) | 0.007 | 0.004 |
| No. tender joints | 2 (4) | 3 (3) | 6 (5) | 0.015 | 0.007 |
| C-reactive protein, mg/l | 5 (11) | 3 (3) | 11 (14) | 0.25 | 0.20 |
| Erythrocyte sedimentation rate, mm/h | 10 (13) | 6 (4) | 12 (15) | 0.79 | 0.65 |
| Patient’s global assessment, VAS, mm | 7 (9) | 8 (13) | 22 (23) | 0.006 | 0.006 |
| Patient’s assessment of pain, VAS, mm | 6 (9) | 6 (9) | 25 (26) | 0.005 | 0.004 |
| Physician’s global assessment, VAS, mm | 5 (8) | 7 (8) | 19 (16) | 0.001 | < 0.001 |
| Physical function, HAQ | 0.07 (0.14) | 0.05 (0.19) | 0.36 (0.36) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Disease Activity Score at 28 joints at 3 mos | 1.77 (1.02) | 1.82 (0.82) | 2.78 (1.06) | 0.001 | < 0.001 |
| Patients in strict NEO-RACo remission, n (%) | 18 (40) | 12 (40) | 1 (6) | 0.016 | 0.014 |
| Patients in ACR/EULAR Boolean remission, n (%) | 25 (56) | 14 (47) | 1 (6) | < 0.001 | < 0.001 |
| Measures of disease activity at 6 mos | |||||
| No. swollen joints | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (2) | 0.006 | 0.005 |
| No. tender joints | 1 (2) | 1 (1) | 3 (4) | 0.026 | 0.020 |
| C-reactive protein, mg/l | 4 (5) | 4 (3) | 6 (7) | 0.17 | 0.20 |
| Erythrocyte sedimentation rate, mm/h | 8 (11) | 5 (3) | 11 (12) | 0.51 | 0.49 |
| Patient’s global assessment, VAS, mm | 5 (13) | 4 (7) | 19 (22) | 0.029 | 0.026 |
| Patient’s assessment of pain, VAS, mm | 6 (14) | 3 (5) | 18 (24) | 0.073 | 0.068 |
| Physician’s global assessment, VAS, mm | 2 (5) | 2 (3) | 10 (12) | 0.008 | 0.007 |
| Physical function, HAQ | 0.04 (0.11) | 0.01 (0.03) | 0.28 (0.33) | 0.006 | 0.006 |
| DAS28 at 6 mos | 1.33 (1.75) | 1.21 (0.55) | 2.25 (1.37) | 0.014 | 0.009 |
| Patients in strict NEO-RACo remission, n (%) | 30 (67) | 17 (57) | 3 (17) | < 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Patients in ACR/EULAR Boolean remission, n (%) | 33 (73) | 23 (77) | 5 (28) | 0.004 | 0.007 |
↵* p for linearity. VAS: visual analog scale; HAQ: Health Assessment Questionnaire; NEO-RACo: The Finnish Rheumatoid Arthritis Combination Therapy Trial with infliximab added for 6 months; ACR: American College of Rheumatology; EULAR: European League Against Rheumatism; DAS28: 28-joint Disease Activity Score.