Table 1.

Demographic characteristics of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients

Patient group	Number	Mean age (years)	Percent male	Percent RF+	Percent with erosions	Median disease duration, years
Controls	82	62	27	87	71	8
Gold	85	64	29	73	87	10
P		NS**	NS*	0·03*	0·01*	0·01**

RF, Rheumatoid factor.

NS, P =0·05.

^*Fisher's exact test.

^**Mann Whitney U-test.