Antibodies to citrullinated proteins and differences in clinical progression of rheumatoid arthritis

Table 3 Joint swelling at inclusion in rheumatoid arthritis patients with and without anti-cyclic-citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies

	Anti-CCP-negative (n = 228)	Anti-CCP-positive (n = 226)
Temporomandibular joints	0.01 ± 0.10	0.02 ± 0.18
Sternoclavicular joints	0.08 ± 0.34	0.04 ± 0.22
Acromioclavicular joints	0.06 ± 0.24	0.03 ± 0.17
Shoulder joints	0.08 ± 0.30	0.12 ± 0.40
Elbow joints	0.22 ± 0.54	0.20 ± 0.49
Wrist joints	1.0 ± 0.89	1.0 ± 0.90
Metacarpophalangeal joints	3.2 ± 3.0	2.2 ± 2.2
Proximal interphalangeal joins of the hands	2.6 ± 3.1	2.0 ± 1.8
Distal interphalangeal joints of the hands	0.32 ± 0.60	0.21 ± 0.60
Knee joints	0.46 ± 0.74	0.49 ± 0.74
Ankle joints	0.31 ± 0.67	0.34 ± 0.63
Subtalar joints	0.24 ± 0.61	0.21 ± 0.55
Metatarsophalangeal joints	1.6 ± 2.2	1.8 ± 2.4
Interphalangeal joints of the feet	0.06 ± 0.24	0.18 ± 0.58
Total number of swollen joints	10.0 ± 7.2	8.6 ± 5.5

Swelling was scored for each joint on a 0–1 scale: 0 = no swelling, and 1 = swelling. The scores for the metacarpophalangeal joints were summed, as were the scores for the metatarsophalangeal joints and the interphalangeal joins of the hands and feet. The scores for the left joints and the right joints were summed. The summed scores were divided by the total numbers of patients; the resulting mean ± standard deviation is presented. There were no statistical differences between patients with and without anti-CCP antibodies.

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