Work disability remains a major problem in rheumatoid arthritis in the 2000s: data from 32 countries in the QUEST-RA Study

Table 3 Patient and disease characteristics in 5,493 individuals younger than 65 years who are working or not working in the QUEST-RA study in countries with a high (>24K USD) or low (<11K USD) GDP

	Individuals younger than 65 years old
	All countries			High-GDP countries			Low-GDP countries
	Working	Not working	P value^a	Working	Not working	P value^a	Working	Not working	P value^a
Number	2,590	2,903		1,436	1,347		1,154	1,556
Patient characteristics
Females, percentage	76%	85%	< 0.001	72%	81%	< 0.001	82%	89%	< 0.001
Age in years, mean	46	52	< 0.001	47	54	< 0.001	45	50	< 0.001
Disease duration in years, mean	8.3	11	< 0.001	8.7	12	< 0.001	7.8	11	< 0.001
Rheumatoid factor-positive, percentage	72%	75%	0.004	70%	75%	0.001	75%	76%	0.64
Erosive disease, percentage	53%	65%	< 0.001	51%	62%	< 0.001	56%	69%	< 0.001
Disease activity measures
DAS28 (0 to 9.1), mean	4.0	4.6	< 0.001	3.3	3.9	< 0.001	4.8	5.2	< 0.001
ESR, median	20	26	< 0.001	14	18	< 0.001	28	32	< 0.001
SJC (0 to 28), median	2	3	< 0.001	1	2	< 0.001	3	4	0.002
TJC (0 to 28), median	3	5	< 0.001	1	2	< 0.001	7	8	< 0.001
Physician global (0 to 10), median	2.1	2.8	< 0.001	1.5	1.9	< 0.001	3.0	3.8	< 0.001
Patient self-report
HAQ physical function (0 to 3), median	0.63	1.1	< 0.001	0.50	0.88	< 0.001	0.88	1.3	< 0.001
Pain VAS (0 to 10), median	3.2	4.5	< 0.001	2.3	3.8	< 0.001	4.2	4.9	< 0.001
Patient global VAS (0 to 10), median	3.3	4.6	< 0.001	2.4	3.6	< 0.001	4.3	5.0	< 0.001
Fatigue VAS (0 to 10), median	3.9	4.8	< 0.001	3.2	4.2	< 0.001	4.5	5.2	< 0.001
Psychological HAQ (0 to 3), mean	0.79	0.94	< 0.001	0.60	0.82	< 0.001	0.87	1.1	< 0.001
Treatment-related variables
Number of DMARDs ever taken, mean	2.42	2.73	< 0.001	2.6	3.1	< 0.001	2.2	2.4	< 0.001
Biologics ever, percentage of patients	22%	21%	0.60	32%	35%	0.12	8.5%	9.0%	0.65

^aUnadjusted P values are presented. DAS28, disease activity score using 28 joint counts; DMARD, disease-modifying antirheumatic drug; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; GDP, gross domestic product; HAQ, Health Assessment Questionnaire; QUEST-RA, Quantitative Standard Monitoring of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis; SJC, swollen joint count; TJC, tender joint count; USD, US dollars; VAS, visual analog scale.

ISSN: 1478-6362