Table 1.
Patient background characteristics
| Background characteristics | Mean | Median | |
| Age | 59.2 | 61.0 | |
| Disease duration (months) | 80.2 | 36.0 | |
| Number of swollen joints | 8.2 | 7.0 | |
| Number of tender joints | 9.4 | 8.0 | |
| DAS28ESR | 5.7 | 5.7 | |
| DAS28CRP | 5.0 | 4.9 | |
| ESR (mm/h) | 51.4 | 47.5 | |
| CRP (mg/dL) | 2.6 | 1.2 | |
| RF (IU/mL) | 164.9 | 64.4 | |
| MMP-3 (ng/mL) | 272.5 | 152.0 | |
| Dose of MTX (mg/week) | 9.7 | 10.0 | |
| Dose of GC (mg/day in prednisolone equivalent) | 1.3 | 0.0 | |
| Failure in csDMARDs | 2.0 | 2.0 | |
| Frequency | Percent | ||
| Gender | Female | 1307 | 81.0 |
| Male | 307 | 19.0 | |
| Entry phase | I | 115 | 7.1 |
| II | 442 | 27.4 | |
| III | 1056 | 65.5 | |
| Biologics | IFX | 643 | 39.8 |
| ETA | 372 | 23.1 | |
| ADA | 404 | 25.0 | |
| GLM | 25 | 1.6 | |
| CZP | 170 | 10.5 | |
| Use of corticosteroid | 446 | 27.6 | |
| Use of MTX | 1436 | 89.0 | |
| Failure in > 2 csDMARDs | 903 | 56.0 | |
| RF positive* | 1215 | 75.6 | |
*RF > 20 IU/mL was defined as positive
CRP C-reactive protein, ESR erythrocyte sedimentation rate, DAS28 disease activity score for 28 joints, RF rheumatoid factor, MMP-3 matrix metalloproteinase, MTX methotrexate, csDMARDs conventional synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs