Baseline characteristics of the 69 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
| Characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Demographic | |
| Age, yrs, median (range) | 55 (21–75) |
| Women, n (%) | 56 (81) |
| Disease status | |
| Disease duration, mo, median (range) | 48 (3–480) |
| Rheumatoid factor-positive, n (%) | 55 (80) |
| ACPA-positive, n (%) | 55 (80) |
| DAS28, median (range) | 5.7 (3.2–7.7) |
| Synovitis score*, median (range) | 4 (1–7) |
| Medications, n (%) | |
| Corticosteroids | 31 (45) |
| Methotrexate | 16 (23) |
| Leflunomide | 7 (10) |
| Sulfasalazine | 3 (4) |
| Hydroxychloroquine | 3 (4) |
↵* Synovitis score according to Krenn, et al13,14, based on the following basic morphological measures of synovitis: intimal hyperplasia, inflammatory infiltration, and activation of resident cells/synovial stroma, including fibroblasts, endothelial cells, histiocytes, macrophages, and multinucleated giant cells. All measures are graded: 0 (absent), 1 (slight), 2 (moderate), or 3 (strongly positive). The values of all measures are summarized, resulting in a final score between 0 and 9. Median reference value for RA = 5.019. ACPA: anticitrullinated protein antibody; DAS28: 28-joint Disease Activity Score.