How age and sex affect the erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein in early rheumatoid arthritis

Table 3 Multivariate associations of the inflammatory markers (ESR and CRP) with age and sex at baseline (N = 589)

Variables*	Unstandardized coefficient		Standardized coefficient	p-value
	Beta (95%CI)	Standard error	Beta (95%CI)
ESR model
TJC28	-0.012 (-0.028 – 0.003)	0.008	-0.075 (-0.168 – 0.018)	0.115
SJC28	0.044 (0.028 – 0.059)	0.008	0.256 (0.166 – 0.345)	<0.001
General health	0.006 (0.003 – 0.009)	0.001	0.170 (0.089 – 0.250)	<0.001
Female sex	0.198 (0.053 – 0.342)	0.073	0.104 (0.028 – 0.179)	0.007
Age	0.017 (0.012 – 0.022)	0.003	0.262 (0.186 – 0.337)	<0.001
CRP model
TJC28	-0.001(-0.020 – 0.018)	0.010	-0.006 (-0.100 – 0.089)	0.908
SJC28	0.058 (0.039 – 0.077)	0.010	0.279 (0.188 – 0.370)	<0.001
General health	0.008 (0.004 – 0.011)	0.002	0.180 (0.098 – 0.262)	<0.001
Female sex	-0.182 (-0.362 – -0.001)	0.092	-0.078 (-0.155 – -0.001)	0.048
Age	0.009 (0.002 – 0.015)	0.003	0.108 (0.031 – 0.185)	0.006

*ESR = erythrocyte sedimentation rate, CRP = C-Reactive Protein, TJC28 = tender joint count in 28-joints, SJC28 = swollen joint count in 28-joints. CI = confidence interval. R² ESR-model: 18.7%, R² CRP model: 16.2%.

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