Table 3.
Results from the exploratory subanalysis comparing MCP joint space morphology between HH women and age-matched healthy control women
| Means ± SD | p value HH women vs. control women | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| HH women (n = 8) | Healthy control women—age matched (n = 8) | ||
| Demographics | |||
| Age [years] | 58.0 ± 7.8 | 58.0 ± 8.2 | 0.975 |
| BMI [kg/m2] | 25.1 ± 3.9 | 25.4 ± 3.0 | 0.393 |
| Height (cm) | 165.4 ± 6.8 | 165.9 ± 6.5 | 0.950 |
| Gender, female n [%] | 8 [100%] | 8 [100%] | 1.000 |
| Time since HH diagnosis [years] | 9.0 ± 3.9 | n.a. | n.a. |
| Phlebotomies since diagnosis n | 28.7 ± 33.9 | n.a. | n.a. |
| Annual rate of phlebotomies n | 4.2 ± 4.8 | n.a. | n.a. |
| Arthralgias in at least one hand n [%] | 7 [87.5] | n.a. | n.a. |
| HR-pQT-derived MCP joint space parameters | |||
| MCP 2 | |||
| JSV [mm3] | 81.52 ± 14.90 | 87.5 ± 11.6 | 0.208 |
| JSW [mm] | 1.56 ± 0.16 | 1.80 ± 0.26 | 0.087 |
| JSW.MIN [mm] | 0.83 ± 0.41 | 1.27 ± 0.36 | 0.140 |
| JSW.MAX [mm] | 2.64 ± 0.2 | 2.78 ± 0.12 | 0.115 |
| JSW.AS | 5.06 ± 5.23 | 2.39 ± 0.83 | 0.208 |
| JSW.SD [mm] | 0.33 ± 0.06 | 0.28 ± 0.07 | 0.270 |
| MCP 3 | |||
| JSV [mm3] | 79.0 ± 7.77 | 87.8 ± 17.10 | 0.185 |
| JSW [mm] | 1.43 ± 0.16 | 1.66 ± 0.26 | 0.086 |
| JSW.MIN [mm] | 0.71 ± 0.36 | 1.22 ± 0.21 | 0.022 |
| JSW.MAX [mm] | 2.58 ± 0.31 | 2.65 ± 0.25 | 0.327 |
| JSW.AS | 6.21 ± 6.07 | 2.21 ± 0.31 | 0.025 |
| JSW.SD [mm] | 0.33 ± 0.06 | 0.24 ± 0.07 | 0.026 |
Patient characteristics and HR-pQCT-derived joint space parameters of metacarpophalangeal joints (MCP) 2 and 3 are presented for women suffering from HH (n = 8) and for healthy control women (n = 8). Healthy control women were matched 1: 1 to HH women by age, using 5 years age strata. Intergroup differences were assessed using paired t-test, if data were normally distributed, or Wilcoxon-signed-rank test, if data were not normally distributed
HR-pQCT High-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography, n.a. not applicable
Significant p-values (p < 0.05) are marked in bold print, statistical trends are printed in italics*
*For comparability reasons, all above-mentioned MCP HR-pQCT data were analyzed using the SPECTRA consensus MCP joint space algorithm [44] as described in detail in the Supplementary material