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

Table 5 Multivariate associations of the inflammatory markers (ESR and CRP) with age, sex, and BMI after 1 year (N = 365)

Variables*	Unstandardized coefficient		Standardized coefficient	p-value
	Beta (95% CI)	Standard error	Beta (95% CI)
ESR model
TJC28	-0.024 (-0.056 – 0.008)	0.016	-0.088 (-0.206 – 0.031)	0.147
SJC28	0.014 (-0.030 – 0.058)	0.022	0.035 (-0.074 – 0.144)	0.527
General health	0.004 (0.000 – 0.008)	0.002	0.103 (-0.012 – 0.219)	0.080
Female sex	0.370 (0.187 – 0.552)	0.093	0.213 (0.108 – 0.317)	<0.001
Age: 55-65 years	0.151 (-0.055 – 0.356)	0.105	0.084 (-0.031 – 0.198)	0.151
Age: >65 years	0.570 (0.363 – 0.777)	0.105	0.320 (0.203 – 0.436)	<0.001
Overweight	-0.349 (-0.581 – -0.117)	0.118	-0.207 (-0.345 – -0.069)	0.003
Normal weight	-0.283 (-0.520 – -0.045)	0.121	-0.164 (-0.302 – -0.026)	0.020
CRP model ^#
TJC28	-0.014 (-0.047 – 0.019)	0.017	-0.052 (-0.174 – 0.070)	0.405
SJC28	-0.002 (-0.047 – 0.043)	0.023	-0.006 (-0.119 – 0.107)	0.917
General health	0.007 (0.002 – 0.011)	0.002	0.179 (0.060 – 0.297)	0.003
Age: 55-65 years	0.073 (-0.137 – 0.283)	0.107	0.041 (-0.077 – 0.159)	0.495
Age: >65 years	0.292 (0.081 – 0.504)	0.107	0.165 (0.046 – 0.284)	0.007
Overweight	-0.257 (-0.494 – -0.020)	0.120	-0.154 (-0.296 - -0.012)	0.033
Normal weight	-0.328 (-0.571 – -0.085)	0.124	-0.192 (-0.335 - -0.050)	0.008

*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: 15.6%, R² CRP model: 6.9%.
^#After 1 year, sex was no longer significantly associated with CRP levels (p = 0.855). Consequently, this factor is no longer included in the CRP model.

ISSN: 1471-2474