Table 2.

Baseline characteristics of patients with very early inflammatory arthritis.

	RA		Non-RA
	Persistent	Resolving	Persistent	Resolving	p
N	19	5	23	49
Female, %	58	60	35	41	NS**
Age, yrs*	67 (59–74)	56 (44–61)	37 (25–58)	41 (32–54)	p = 0.0003† RA persistent vs non-RA persistent p < 0.001 RA persistent vs non-RA resolving p < 0.01
Symptom duration, wks*	6 (4–9)	8 (5–12)	7 (4–10)	3 (2–7)	p = 0.001† Intergroup comparisons NS
Initial CRP, mg/l *	25 (18–41)	19 (9–81)	46 (24–95)	23 (7–56)	NS†
No. swollen joints*	5 (2–7)	5 (1–11)	2 (1–3)	2 (1–3)	p = 0.0005† RA persistent vs non-RA resolving p < 0.01
No. swollen joint areas*	3 (2–4)	5 (1–5)	2 (1–3)	1 (1–2.5)	p = 0.001† RA persistent vs non-RA resolving p < 0.01 RA resolving vs non-RA resolving p < 0.01

^*Results given as median (interquartile range) except for RA (Resolving), where median (range) are given.

^**Groups compared using chi-square test.

^†Groups compared using Kruskal-Wallis test, where the difference between groups was statistically significant at the 5% level, intergroup comparisons were performed using Dunn’s test. NS: not significant.