Identification of intra-group, inter-individual, and gene-specific variances in mRNA expression profiles in the rheumatoid arthritis synovial membrane

Table 1 Clinical characteristics of the patients at the time of synovectomy/sampling

Patients, total	Gender, male/female	Age, years	Disease duration, years	Rheumatoid factor, +/-	ESR, mm/hour	CRP^a, mg/L	Number of ARA criteria for RA	Concomitant medication (number)
Rheumatoid arthritis
12	3/9	65.9 ± 2.9	15.8 ± 4.2	10/2	42.6 ± 6.2	31.9 ± 7.2	5.3 ± 2.1	MTX (5)
								Prednis. (10)
								Sulfas. (3)
								NSAIDs (9)
Osteoarthritis
10	2/8	71.9 ± 2.0	6.2 ± 2.7	1/9	22.9 ± 4.0	7.6 ± 2.9	0.1 ± 0.1	NSAIDs (4)
								None (7)
Normal controls
9	7/2	49.9 ± 6.7	0.4 ± 0.3	ND	ND	ND	0.0 ± 0.0	None

^aNormal range: <5 mg/L. For the parameters of age, disease duration, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), and number of American Rheumatism Association (ARA) (now American College of Rheumatology) criteria for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), mean ± standard error of the mean is given. For the remaining parameters, numbers are provided. +/-, positive/negative; MTX, methotrexate; ND, not determined; NSAID, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug; Prednis., prednisolone; Sulfas., sulfasalazine.

ISSN: 1478-6362