Table 1.
Demographic characteristics of the RA patients and healthy controls and clinical characteristics of the RA patients
| Controls (n = 29) | RA, MTX treatment (n = 8) | RA, no MTX treatment (n = 8) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age, mean (s.d.), years | 38 (11) | 49 (11) | 52 (15) |
| Female | 100 | 88 | 100 |
| Ethnicity | |||
| Caucasian | 93 | 75 | 88 |
| African American | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Hispanic | 7 | 25 | 0 |
| Asian | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Clinical characteristics | |||
| Disease duration, mean (s.d.), years | — | 12 (4) | 11 (7) |
| Active diseasea | — | 63 | 88 |
| Early RA (disease duration <1 year) | — | 13 | 25 |
| Treatment | |||
| HCQ | — | 50 | 38 |
| Steroids | — | 38 | 63 |
| TNF inhibitors | — | 25 | 13 |
Except where indicated otherwise, values are given as a percentage. aDefined as the presence of at least three of the following: morning stiffness >45 min, >3 swollen joints, >6 tender joints and ESR >28 mm/h. The mean disease activity score for RA subjects is 4.7 (s.d. 0.2) with no MTX and 4.9 (s.d. 0.4) with MTX.