Bone erosions in rheumatoid arthritis can be repaired through reduction in disease activity with conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs

Table 1 Characteristics of the study population

Characteristic	Group		P value
	Repair observed	Repair not observed
Patients (n)	13	109
Female (n [%])	10 (76.9%)	93 (85.3%)	NS^a
Age (mean [range]; years)	64.2 ± 9.8 (39–78)	60.6 ± 12.6 (22–85)	NS^b
Disease duration (mean [range]; years)	12.5 ± 9.6 (2.7–38)	14.3 ± 10.8 (1–45)	NS^c
RF positivity (n [%])	11(84.6%)	85(78.0%)	NS^a
Dosage of prednisone (mean [range]; mg)	2.0 ± 2.1 (0.0–6.0)	3.7 ± 3.3 (0.0–14.5)	NS^c
Prescribed bisphosphonate (n [%])	8 (61.5%)	79 (72.5%)	NS^a
Functional class
I	4	10	<0.01^c
II	9	78
III	0	18
IV	0	3
RA stage
I	0	0	NS^c
II	4	36
III	2	19
IV	7	54
DAS28-3 score at baseline (mean [range])	4.4 ± 1.2 (2.7–6.0)	4.0 ± 1.1 (1.0–7.0)	NS^b
DAS28-3 score at follow up (mean [range])	2.7 ± 1.1 (1.5–5.4)	3.7 ± 1.2 (0.2–8.1)	<0.005^b
ΔDAS28-3 (mean [range])	-1.7 ± 1.2 (-3.5 to +0.1)	-0.3 ± 1.0 (-2.4 to +2.6)	<0.001^b
Time interval between pairs of radiographs, years (mean [range])	2.3 ± 1.0 (1.4–3.1)	1.6 ± 1.8 (1.0–1.6)	NS^b
ΔDAS28-3/year (mean [range])	-0.9 ± 0.8 (-2.6 to +0.1)	-0.2 ± 0.9 (-2.8 to +3.4)	<0.01^b

RA functional status was determined using American College of Rheumatology criteria, and RA stage was determined using Steinbrocker criteria. ^aFisher's exact probability test; ^bStudent's t test; ^cMann-Whitney U test. DAS, Disease Activity Score; RF, rheumatoid factor.

ISSN: 1478-6362