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

Table 3.

Differences of indexes in patients at different treatment periods

Index	Baseline (mean ± SD)	Post-treatment (mean ± SD)	t/Z	P
Group A: 3 months of full-dose anti-TNFα (n = 10; n = 6 for anti-TNFα alone, n = 4 for combination)^a
ASDAS	3.43 ± 1.55	1.66 ± 0.40	2.675	0.043
SPARCC	31.67 ± 18.64	14.50 ± 18.41	3.768	0.012
ESR^b	52.00 ± 43.83	5.00 ± 5.55	–2.023	0.046
CRP^b	36.58 ± 40.37	1.92 ± 1.09	–1.782	0.083
Group B: 4–6 months of anti-TNFα (n = 17; n = 4 for anti-TNFα alone, n = 13 for combination)^c
ASDAS	2.46 ± 0.58	1.58 ± 0.69	4.920	<0.001
SPARCC	34.98 ± 18.93	18.54 ± 15.72	4.285	0.001
ESR^b	27.77 ± 34.95	7.22 ± 12.31	–2.749	0.007
CRP^b	16.34 ± 23.11	4.37 ± 17.87	–2.283	0.025
Group C: 9–12 months of anti-TNFα (n = 12; n = 6 for anti-TNFα alone, n = 6 for combination)^d
ASDAS	2.91 ± 0.89	2.05 ± 1.21	2.517	0.042
SPARCC	38.24 ± 15.39	23.09 ± 15.65	2.527	0.038
ESR^b	28.29 ± 27.77	12.43 ± 13.57	–1.498	0.128
CRP^b	14.43 ± 11.65	10.81 ± 16.54	–1.529	0.134

^aBaseline of clinical practices from patients in Group A: 85.7 % male; age, 23 ± 5.62; symptom duration, 2.6 ± 3.25; HLA-B27-positive, 85.7 %

^bNot normally distributed, compared by paired rank test

^cBaseline of clinical practices from patients in Group B: 85.7 % male; age, 23.3 ± 6.43; symptom duration, 3.15 ± 2.98; HLA-B27-positive, 100 %

^dBaseline of clinical practices from patients in Group C: 80 % male; age, 21.3 ± 2.53; symptom duration, 3.97 ± 3.52; 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, TNFα tumor necrosis factor alpha