Table 1.
Clinical features of research subjects.
| RA patients | Control | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Positive | Negative (NG) (RF ≤ 20) | Normal (NM) | |||
| Low positive (LP) (20 < RF ≤ 60) | High positive (HP) (RF > 60) | Total | |||
| N | 24 | 53 | 77 | 16 | 16 |
| Age | 51.1 ± 5.9 | 51.2 ± 5.7 | 51.2 ± 5.7 | 50.9 ± 5.5 | 49.2 ± 9.6 |
| Female | 22 (92) | 45 (85) | 67 (87) | 16 (100) | 15 (94) |
| DMARD-naive | 5 (21) | 16 (30) | 21 (27) | 3 (19) | – |
| Current use of MTX | 19 (79) | 33 (62) | 52 (68) | 12 (75) | – |
| Current use of bDMARD | 9 (38) | 15 (28) | 24 (31) | 6 (38) | |
| RF**** (IU/ml) | 34.8 ± 10.4 | 279.5 ± 230.9 | 203.2 ± 222.5 | 8.4 ± 5.9 | – |
| Anti-CCP (%, NG/LP/HP) | 29.2/0/70.8 | 18.9/7.6/73.6 | 22.08/5.19/72.73 | 25.0/12.5/62.5 | |
| DAS28 (score) | 2.4 ± 0.8 | 2.8 ± 1.3 | 2.63 ± 1.16 | 2.8 ± 1.5 | – |
| ESR (mm/h) | 12.7 ± 8.6 | 16.1 ± 15.6 | 15.0 ± 13.8 | 12.9 ± 8.3 | – |
| CRP (mg/dl) | 0.3 ± 0.5 | 0.6 ± 1.6 | 0.5 ± 1.3 | 0.4 ± 0.7 | – |
All values are presented as mean ± standard deviation, n (%), or n. All statistical analyses were done with Kruskal–Wallis test and chi-square test. The quadruple asterisks indicate p-value under 0.0001.
DMARD, disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug; MTX, methotrexate; bDMARD, biological DMARD.