Table 2.
Age and sex of the early rheumatoid arthritis group and comparison groupsa
| Patients | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demographic categories |
Age-similar hospital personnel (N = 19) |
Blood bank donors (N = 53) |
Systemic lupus erythematosus (N = 17) |
Other CTD (N = 17) |
Early RA (N = 50) |
Late RA (N = 43) |
| Age, mean (range)b |
48 (36 to 80) | N/A | 44 (25 to 59) | 50 (27 to 88) | 53 (30 to 80) | 60 (21 to 85) |
| Sex, females/malesc |
7/12 | N/A | 17/17 | 15/17 | 36/14 | 31/12 |
aCTD: connective tissue disease; N/A: not available; RA: rheumatoid arthritis. bFor comparison of age in early RA group vs. late RA group, P = 0.01; for early RA vs. systemic lupus erythematosus, P = 0.003. There were no other significant differences in age among the groups. cRegarding sex distribution, healthy hospital personnel, who were primarily men, were significantly different from each of the patient groups, which were composed primarily of women (P ≤ 0.01). The members of the lupus group, which was exclusively female, were significantly different than both RA patient groups (P < 0.05).