Baseline characteristics of the 98 patients with early-stage RA.
| Age, yrs (range) | 53 (16–80) |
| No. female/male | 77/21 |
| Duration of disease, mo (range) | 3 (1.5–24) |
| Tender joint count, n (range) | 6 (0–28) |
| Swollen joint count, n (range) | 3 (0–24) |
| Global health, 100 mm VAS (range) | 50.5 (0–100) |
| DAS28-CRP (range) | 4.3 (2.1–8.2) |
| MRI | |
| Synovitis positivity, % | 90 |
| n (range) | 11.5 (0–30) |
| Bone edema positivity, % | 47 |
| n (range) | 0 (0–15) mean 2.1 |
| Bone erosion positivity, % | 33 |
| n (range) | 0 (0–11) mean 1.3 |
| Serologic markers | |
| COMP, U/l (range) | 10.3 (0.6–24.9) |
| CRP positivity, % | 66 |
| Titer, mg/dl (range) | 0.52 (0.02–12.7) |
| Anti-CCP antibody positivity, % | 66 |
| Titer U/ml (range) | 23 (0.2–2115.3) |
| MMP-3 positivity, % | 42 |
| Titer, ng/ml (range) | 66.6 (12.5–1160) |
VAS: visual analog scale, COMP: cartilage oligomeric matrix protein, MRI: magnetic resonance imaging, CRP: C-reactive protein, CCP: citric citrullinated peptide, MMP: matrix metalloproteinase.