Table 2.

Subject characteristics in clinical pain assessment/quality of life scores and joint space width at baseline and after 24 months

	Baselinea				Change from baselineb
	Patients	Controls	Diff. mean (95% CI)	p values	Patients	Controls	p values
Pain/quality of life scores
Subject’s assessment of arthritis pain (VAS)	16 (0; 66)	1 (0; 12)		<0.0001	0.8	0.0	0.060
SF-36 physical component summary scale (PCS)	42.69±10.43	53.73±6.38	−11.0 (−15.5; −6.6)	<0.0001	−0.77±9.55	−0.49±5.39	0.891
SF-36 mental component summary scale (MCS)	54.99±10.45	54.88±5.50	0.1 (−4.2; 4.4)	0.961	−2.15±1.66	−0.73±1.06	0.465
WOMAC osteoarthritis index
Pain	4 (0; 12)	0 (0; 1)		<0.0001	1.5	1.0	0.293
Stiffness	2 (0; 5)	0 (0; 1)		<0.0001	1.0	1.0	0.397
Function	14 (1; 40)	0 (0; 2)		<0.0001	1.1	1.0	0.490
Total	21.5 (0; 58.1)	0 (0; 4)		<0.0001	1.1	1.0	0.090
Minimal joint space width (mm)	3.78±1.01	4.05±0.54	−0.3 (−0.7; 0.1)	0.189	−0.37±0.14	−0.09±0.04	0.021

^aValues at baseline are mean ± SD in the case of normally distributed data. Otherwise, median values and 10^th and 90^th percentiles are reported. Intergroup comparison of the absolute values was conducted with a t-test or a Mann-Whitney-U-test, respectively.

^bThe rate of change during the 24 month-follow-up is reported as mean ± standard error of the mean in the case of normally distributed data. Otherwise, the factor of change of the median in comparison to its value at baseline is shown. Comparison of the slope was performed with generalized estimation equation (GEE) analysis after adjusting for age and BMI

P-values in bold indicate significant group differences