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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Feb 26.
Published in final edited form as: J Rheumatol. 2013 Apr 1;40(5):617–623. doi: 10.3899/jrheum.121171

Table 1.

Demographic characteristics and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) history of users of anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) medications and nonusers.

Characteristic Anti-TNF Use,
n = 104 cases
No Anti-TNF Use,
n = 164 cases
T test or Chi-square
p
Age, yrs, mean ± SD 58.7 ± 12.4 64.4 ± 10.5 < 0.0001
Sex female, % 84 90 0.15
Body mass index, mean ± SD 28.7 ± 6.3 28.3 ± 6.3 0.64
RA flare rate, % 26 (n = 77) 20 (n = 121) 0.31
VAS pain score 6+ mo postsurgery on survey 34.8 ± 27.7 40.1 ± 27.1 0.16
Prednisone use, % 27 37 0.10
Prednisone dose at time of surgery, mg, mean ± SD 7 ± 3.3 7.5 ± 4.8 0.59
Perioperative stress dose steroid use, % 26 26 0.73
Duration of RA reported at time of survey, yrs, mean ± SD 21.5 ± 16.3 19.5 ± 12.4 0.32
Elixhauser comorbidity score*, mean ± SD 2.1 ± 1.3 2.2 ± 1.4 0.37
Nonbiologic DMARD use, % 64 (n = 67) 70 (n = 115) 0.33
WOMAC function score, range 0–100, mean ± SD, n = 179 43.6 ± 20.3 43.7 ± 18.61 0.96
Euroqol (EQ-5D), range −1 to 1, mean ± SD (n = 214) 0.58 ± 0.21 0.58 ± 0.20 0.95
SF-36 function score, mean ± SD (n = 208) 29.2 ± 7.3 29.1 ± 8.2 0.92
*

Elixhauser comorbidity score estimates probability of death in hospital based on comorbid diseases; higher scores indicate greater burden of comorbid diseases. VAS: visual analog scale; WOMAC: Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index; SF-36: Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36; DMARD: disease-modifying antirheumatic drug.