Table 2.

Summary statistics of clinical and laboratory outcome parameters at baseline and after w6, w12, w24 and w52

Clinical outcome parameters	N	Median (min–max, IQR)	p-value
DAS28 (CRP)
Baseline	28	4.61 (2.65–6.49, 1.76)
w6	28	3.80 (1.49–6.60, 1.88)	0.002
w12	27	3.26 (1.39–6.65, 2.04)	< 0.001
w24	27	3.20 (1.27–6.37, 1.81)	0.001
w52	18	2.73 (1.22–4.85, 2.06)	< 0.001
Tender Joint Count-28
Baseline	28	7.00 (0–22, 8.75)
w6	28	3.00 (0–22, 7.00)	0.009
w12	28	4.00 (0–21, 5.00)	< 0.001
w24	27	3.00 (0–17, 4.00)	0.001
w52	18	2.00 (0–15, 3.50)	0.004
Swollen Joint Count-28
Baseline	28	2.50 (0–9, 4.00)
w6	28	2.00 (0–6, 2.00)	0.052
w12	28	1.00 ((0–7, 3.00)	0.009
w24	27	0.00 (0–6, 2.00)	0.005
w52	18	0.00 (0–6, 1.75)	0.012
CRP (mg/l)
Baseline	28	5.40 (0.30–52.00, 17.36)
w6	27	4.00 (0.30–61.87, 11.85)	0.687
w12	26	3.25 (0.30–28.90, 6.95)	0.091
w24	25	2.30 (0.30–41.40, 5.50)	0.028
w52	18	2.00 (0.20–98.70, 5.02)	0.156
ESR (mm/h)
Baseline	28	27 (8–66, 21,00)
w6	28	20 (4–52, 24,50	0.027
w12	28	18 (6–56, 23.25)	0.059
w24	27	21 (2–70, 25.50)	0.203
w52	18	18 (2–54, 20.00)	0.177
VAS (0–10 cm) patient
Baseline	28	6.00 (2.40–10.00, 3.00)
w6	28	2.90 (0.00–8.50, 3.95)	0.003
w12	28	4.20 (0.10–8.90, 3.00)	0.003
w24	27	5.00 (0.30–9.00, 3.70)	0.112
w52	18	2.95 (0–8.00, 3.63)	0.002
VAS (0–10 cm) physician
Baseline	28	4.00 (1.9–8.50, 1.70)
w6	28	3.00 (1.0–7.50, 2.00)	0.002
w12	28	2.25 (1.0–8.00, 1.63)	0.001
w24	27	2.00 (0.5–10.00, 2.25)	0.066
w52	18	1.50 (0.0–6.00, 2.00)	0.014
Morning stiffness (min.)
Baseline	28	30.00 (0–240, 63,75)
w6	28	2.50 (0–120, 30.00))	0.003
w12	28	7.50 (0–90, 33.75)	0.025
w24	27	0.00 (0–120, 45.00)	0.042
w52	18	0.00 (0–150, 12.50)	0.091

IQR interquartile range, DAS28 disease activity score of 28 joints, ESR erythrocyte sedimentation rate, CRP C-reactive protein, VAS visual analogue scale; significance level of p < 0.05