Diurnal secretion of growth hormone, cortisol, and dehydroepiandrosterone in pre- and perimenopausal women with active rheumatoid arthritis: a pilot case-control study

Table 1 Characteristics of patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Variables	Rheumatoid arthritis (n = 7)	Controls (n = 10)
Age (years)	36.3 ± 3.7	41.8 ± 2.1
Race (n)
Caucasian	0	6
Hispanic	5	0
African-American	2	4
Duration of rheumatoid arthritis (years)	7.6 ± 2.6	NA
Swollen joint count^a	23.2 ± 3.7	NA
Tender joint count^a	23.3 ± 2.8	NA
Swollen joint score^a	31.7 ± 6.1	NA
Tender joint score^a	34.0 ± 5.5	NA
Pain (visual analog) scores^b	7.1 ± 0.6	NA
Physical component summary score^c	28.0 ± 2.1	55.3 ± 1.3
Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (mm/hour)	69.1 ± 11.3	15.9 ± 1.6
C-reactive protein (mg/dl)	3.7 ± 1.3	0.4 ± 0.02
Interleukin-6 (pg/ml)	25.6 ± 9.8	5.3 ± 2.4

Values are presented as mean ± standard error of the mean. NA, not applicable. ^aSixty-eight joints were examined for tenderness, and 66 joints were examined for swelling; ^bvisual analog scale (cm) ranged from 0 (best) to 10 (worst); ^cvalues represent percentile scores.

ISSN: 1478-6362