Clinical and laboratory features of early RA patients with anti-MCV.
| Early RA Anti-MCV-positive, n = 133 | Early RA Anti-MCV-negative, n = 37 | T | p | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age, median, yrs | 54 (22–82) | 53 (16–83) | ||
| Sex, no. (%) female | 91 (68.42) | 28 (75.68) | ||
| Disease duration, median mo | 6 (1–12) | 6 (1–12) | 0.068 | 0.946 |
| No. tender joints, median | 4 (0–28) | 4 (0–18) | 0.151 | 0.881 |
| No. swollen joints, median | 3 (0–24) | 3 (0–18) | 0.256 | 0.798 |
| ESR, mean ± SD, mm/h | 60.54 ± 33.53 | 56.89 ± 37.37 | 0.571 | 0.569 |
| DAS28, mean ± SD | 4.81 ± 1.09 | 4.71 ± 0.98 | 0.544 | 0.587 |
| CRP level, median mg/l | 25.8 (0.11–1296.0) | 10.2 (1.26–139.0) | 1.126 | 0.260 |
| Global VAS score, mean ± SD | 41.02 ± 9.61 | 38.65 ± 8.22 | 1.365 | 0.174 |
| RF, U/ml | 119 (0–4531) | 38.64 (0–1450) | 5.257 | 0.040† |
| IgA, median g/l | 3.02 (0–80) | 2.53 (0.17–12.6) | 0.851 | 0.396 |
| IgG, median g/l | 14.6 (0–560) | 12.40 (0–23.4) | 1.438 | 0.152 |
| IgM, median g/l | 1.23 (0–15.8) | 1.03 (0–13.4) | 0.017 | 0.987 |
| C3, mean ± SD, g/l | 1.08 ± 0.40 | 1.11 ± 0.47 | 0.392 | 0.695 |
| C4, mean ± SD, g/l | 0.26 ± 0.16 | 0.28 ± 0.22 | 0.592 | 0.555 |
| AKA, median | 0 (0–40) | 0 (0–10) | 1.369 | 0.173 |
| APF, median | 0 (0–10) | 0 (0–10) | 0.538 | 0.592 |
| HRFIgA, median U/ml | 0 (0–770) | 0 (0–1100) | 0.287 | 0.774 |
| HRFIgG, median U/ml | 0 (0–1920) | 0 (0–1249) | 1.250 | 0.213 |
| CCP2, mean ± SD, U/ml | 411.46 ± 465.69 | 89.75 ± 269.80 | 5.405 | 0.000†† |
| MCV, mean ± SD, U/ml | 663.6 ± 684.21 | 21.85 ± 5.15 | 10.82 | 0.000* |
| Radiographic progression, median | ||||
| Joint-space narrowing score | 22 (2–68) | 6 (0–80) | 0.003** | |
| Erosion score | 5 (0–110) | 1 (0–27) | 0.001*** | |
For normally distributed data, results were expressed as mean ± SD; differences between groups were analyzed with the t test. Data not distributed normally expressed as median (range), differences were tested with the Mann-Whitney U-test, and correlations were determined by computing Spearman rank correlation coefficients. P values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant.
† p < 0.05 versus anti-MCV-positive patients.
†† p < 0.001 versus anti-MCV-positive patients.
↵* p < 0.001 versus anti-MCV-positive patients.
↵** p < 0.01 versus anti-MCV-positive patients.
↵*** p < 0.001 versus anti-MCV-positive patients. RA: rheumatoid arthritis; MCV: mutated citrullinated vimentin; ESR: erythrocyte sedimentation rate; DAS28: 28-joint Disease Activity Score; CRP: C-reactive protein; VAS: visual analog scale; RF: rheumatoid factor; CCP: cyclic citrullinated peptide; SD: standard deviation. AKA: antikeratin antibody; APF: antiperinuclear factor; HRF: hidden rheumatoid factor.