Table 1 Demographic features.

	Phase 1,	Phase II
	entire group (n = 687)	Combination group (n = 56)	SASP alone (n = 55)	MTX alone (n = 54)
Age (years)	55 (18–80)	56 (30–78)	55 (18–77)	53 (34–79)
Disease duration (years)	1.0 (1–10)	1.0 (1–9)	1.0 (1–7)	1.0 (1–9)
Mean	1.8	1.9	1.6	1.8
Female (%)	77	75	75	79
Smokers (%)	42	46	37	58
RF positive (%)	65	68	64	65
BMI	28 (16–58)	28 (21–58)	28 (18–40)	29 (16–44)
DAS	4.0 (2.4–7.8)	3.63 (2.4–5.3)	3.67 (2.5–5.4)	3.5 (2.4–5.9)
Total Sharp score	—	17.0 (0–149)	14.0 (0–92)	12.0 (0–195)

BMI, body mass index; DAS, disease activity score; MTX, methotrexate; RF, rheumatoid factor; SASP, sulfasalazine.

The values are represented as median (range).

Overall 70% of patients had a disease duration of ⩽1 year, 22% >1–5 years, and 8% 6–10 years.