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Table 1 Baseline characteristics of the 275 out of 508 patients in the BeSt study with and without vertebral fractures after 5 years of treatment

From: Prevalence of vertebral fractures in a disease activity steered cohort of patients with early active rheumatoid arthritis

Baseline characteristics

Without vertebral fractures (n = 234)

With vertebral fractures (n = 41)

p-value

Age, mean ± SD years

53 (13)

60 (11)

0.001

Female gender, no. (%)

159 (68)

26 (63)

0.568

Symptom duration, median (IQR) weeks

24 (14-50)

23 (15-49)

0.673

DAS, mean ± SD

4.4 (0.9)

4.2 (0.7)

0.069

HAQ, mean ± SD

1.3 (0.6)

1.4 (0.7)

0.594

BMI, mean ± SD

26 (4)

25 (4)

0.545

ESR, mean ± SD

36 (19-56)

44 (26-57)

0.098

CRP, mean ± SD

20 (9-52)

30 (12-51)

0.298

RF positive, no. (%)

152 (65)

29 (71)

0.472

ACPA positive, no. (%)

148 (64)

24 (59)

0.543

Smoking yes, no (%)

80 (34)

21 (51)

0.037

Treatment strategy, no. (%)

  

0.833

Sequential monotherapy

67 (28.6)

9 (22)

Step-up therapy

48 (20.5)

10 (24.4)

Initial combo with prednisone

55 (23.5)

10 (24.4)

Initial combo with infliximab

64 (27.4)

12 (29.3)

  1. IQR, inter quartile range; DAS, disease activity score; HAQ, Health assessment Questionnaire; BMI, body mass index ; CRP, C-reactive protein; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; RF, rheumatoid factor; ACPA, anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies.