. 2016 Feb 1;18:38. doi: 10.1186/s13075-016-0916-2

Table 2.

Differences of indexes in patients with different treatment method

Index	Baseline (mean ± SD)	Post-treatment (mean ± SD)	t/Z	P
Patients treated by anti-TNF alone (n = 18)^a
SPARCC	27.76 ± 18.38	14.38 ± 14.91	2.681	0.011
ASDAS	2.56 ± 1.24	1.83 ± 0.71	4.231	0.006
ESR^b	27.94 ± 33.24	5.72 ± 7.06	–2.763	0.009
CRP^b	16.29 ± 23.05	2.70 ± 2.55	–2.470	0.022
Patients treated by anti-TNF combined with DMARDs (n = 21)^c
SPARCC	39.53 ± 19.21	20.71 ± 15.98	5.110	0.000
ASDAS	3.58 ± 1.05	1.88 ± 0.74	4.278	0.003
ESR^b	38.49 ± 38.50	9.02 ± 13.29	–2.703	0.010
CRP^b	26.29 ± 28.02	8.43 ± 15.79	–2.329	0.053
Patients treated by DMARDs alone (n = 17)^d
SPARCC	28.67 ± 15.51	21.66 ± 11.23	0.820	0.419
ASDAS	2.21 ± 1.03	1.99 ± 0.47	1.301	0.261
ESR^b	12.14 ± 8.43	4.65 ± 4.27	–2.396	0.013
CRP^b	7.919 ± 5.60	5.55 ± 4.46	–1.911	0.056

^aBaseline of clinical practices from patients in anti-TNF group: 85.7 % male; age, 23.3 ± 6.43; symptom duration, 3.15 ± 2.98; HLA-B27-positive, 100 %

^bNot normally distributed, compared by paired rank test

^cBaseline of clinical practices from patients in combination group: 82.35 % male; age, 21.6 ± 3.36; symptom duration, 2.97 ± 2.69; HLA-B27-positive, 88.2 %

^dBaseline of clinical practices from patients in DMARD group: 80 % male; age, 20.5 ± 2.75; symptom duration, 3.0 ± 2.66; HLA-B27-positive, 90 %

ASDAS Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Indices, CRP C-reactive protein, DMARD disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug, ESR erythrocyte sedimentation rate, SD standard deviation, SPARCC Spondyloarthritis Research Consortium Canada, TNF tumor necrosis factor