Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of participants with RA and severe disability (n = 215).
| Female, n (%) | 194 (90) |
| Age in years, mean (SD) | 58.8 (12.8) |
| BMI (kg/m2), mean (SD) | 27.6 (6.0) |
| Single-person household, n (%) | 67 (31) |
| Higher Education, n (%) | 62 (29) |
| Work status, n (%) | |
| ≤66 years old, n (%) | 154 (72) |
| Paid job, n (%) | 45 (29) |
| No job, health problems, n (%) | 61 (40) |
| No job, other reasons, n (%) | 48 (31) |
| Self-reported symptom duration (years), mean (SD) | 21.6 (13.3) |
| Disease duration (years), Mean (SD) | 18.8 (13.0) (n = 193) |
| Difficult-to-treat RA criteria a, n (%) | 90 (47) (n = 191) |
| RF positive, n (%) | 127 (68) (n = 187) |
| ACPA positive, n (%) | 113 (61) (n = 184) |
| DAS-28 b, mean (SD) | 3.1 (1.3) (n = 159) |
| Current medication use c, n (%) | |
| Any DMARD | 149 (69) |
| bDMARD | 114 (77) |
| tsDMARD | 12 (8) |
| csDMARD | 86 (58) |
| NSAIDs | 98 (46) |
| Glucocorticoids Oral | 51 (24) |
| Glucocorticoids Injection intra-muscular/intra-articular | 31 (14) |
| No RA treatment-related medication | 10 (9) |
| Number of comorbidities, n (%) | (n = 213) |
| 0 | 8 (4) |
| 1–2 | 51 (24) |
| 3–4 | 72 (33) |
| ≥5 | 82 (39) |
| Joint replacement surgeries ≥1, n (%) | 80 (37) |
| PROMIS PF-10, mean (SD) | 33.9 (5.1) |
| SF-36 MCS, mean (SD) | 46.7 (12.4) |
| SF-36 PCS, mean (SD) | 29.5 (7.8) |
| HAQ-DI mean (SD) | 1.7 (0.5) |
| 6MWT distance (meters), mean (SD) | 305 (96) (n = 213) |
Abbreviations and explanatory: ACPA, anti-citrullinated protein antibodies; BMI, Body Mass Index; DAS-28, Disease Activity Score; DMARDs, Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs; HAQ-DI, Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index; Higher education, Bachelor or Master at University (of Applied Sciences), and doctoral degree program at research universities; PROMIS PF-10, Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Physical Functioning-10; RF, Rheumatoid Factor; bDMARDS, biological Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs; tsDMARD, targeted synthetic Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs; csDMARD conventional synthetic Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs; SF-36 MCS/PCS, 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey Mental/Physical Component Summary Scale; 6MWT, 6-min walk test. a Difficult-to-treat RA definition based on Nagy et al. [7]. b DAS-28 score is based on the ESR and if the DAS-28 score was based on the CRP score the following calculation was used: DAS28-ESR = 3.3928 × Ln (DAS-28-CRP) + 0.0254 [30]. c Multiple answers possible.