Table 2 Patient characteristics for the total population with ankylosing spondylitis and for the total population with rheumatoid arthritis, and for women and men separately.
| Patients with AS | Patients with RA | p Value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| n = 132 | n = 576 | ||
| Gender, female (%) | 39 (30%) | 417 (72%) | <0.001 |
| Age in years, total group | 45 (12) | 59 (14) | <0.001 |
| Women | 47 (12) | 58 (14) | |
| Men | 45 (12) | 62 (12) | |
| Educational level (>high vocational), total group | 19% | 13% | 0.084 |
| Women | 18% | 12% | |
| Men | 18% | 14% | |
| Marital status (% married), total group | 80% | 76% | 0.322 |
| Women | 82% | 71% | |
| Men | 78% | 88% | |
| Employed in paid work; adjusted rate ratio compared with that in the general population (95% CI) | 0.6 (0.5 to 0.8) | 0.7 (0.6 to 0.8) | |
| Official work disabled; adjusted rate ratio compared with that in the general population (95% CI) | 4.9 (4.0 to 5.8) | 2.7 (2.3 to 3.1) | |
| Age at onset, total group | 34 (11) | 52 (14) | <0.001 |
| Women | 34 (11) | 51 (15) | |
| Men | 33 (11) | 55 (12) | |
| Disease duration in years, total group | 12 (9) | 7 (7) | <0.001 |
| Women | 13 (10) | 7 (7) | |
| Men | 11 (9) | 6 (5) | |
| VAS pain, total group* | 44 (27) | 25 (26) | <0.001 |
| Women | 50 (22) | 27 (27) | |
| Men | 42 (28) | 21 (25) | |
| VAS pain in the joints other than back, neck and hip† | 26 (23) | ||
| VAS general well‐being, total group | 36 (27) | 34 (26) | 0.584 |
| Women | 41 (26) | 35 (27) | |
| Men | 33 (27) | 31 (25) | |
| Morning stiffness, total group | 37 (29) | 30 (39) | 0.018 |
| Women | 44 (32) | 30 (39) | |
| Men | 34 (28) | 30 (39) | |
| ESR, total group | 15 (15) | 22 (18) | <0.001 |
| Women | 17 (20) | 23 (19) | |
| Men | 15 (13) | 20 (17) | |
| Utility (EQ‐5D), total group | 0.70 (0.2) | 0.63 (0.3) | 0.001 |
| Women | 0.67 (0.2) | 0.62 (0.3) | |
| Men | 0.71 (0.2) | 0.67 (0.3) |
AS, ankylosing spondylitis; EQ‐5D, EuroQol 5D; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; VAS, visual analogue scale.
*Global pain for patients with RA and back pain for patients with AS.
†For the entire group of patients with AS, of whom 28% had peripheral arthritis. p Values were assessed by χ2 test for dichotomous variables, by independent t test for continuous variables with normal distribution and by Mann–Whitney U test for continuous variables with a skewed distribution (EQ‐5D). Higher educational level was defined as higher vocational education or university. VAS scale (range 0–100 mm, 100 denoting the worst score), morning stiffness (range 0–120 min), EQ (range from −0.594 to 1, 1 denoting the best health state).