Early changes in bone mineral density measured by digital X-ray radiogrammetry predict up to 20 years radiological outcome in rheumatoid arthritis

Table 1 Patient characteristics at diagnosis stratified according to the median of the early DXR-BMD loss^a

	High bone loss	Low bone loss
	(higher than median)	(less than median)	Pvalue
Patient characteristics	(n = 69)	( n = 66)
Baseline characteristics
Mean age, yr (± SD)	57.7 (11.4)	46.4 (11.4)	<0.001
Mean symptom duration at inclusion, months (± SD)	10.6 (6.8)	13.0 (7.1)	0.035
Mean HAQ, 0 to 3 (± SD)	1.0 (0.6)	0.7 (0.6)	0.004
Mean DAS44, 0 to 10 (± SD)	3.5 (1.1)	3.0 (1.0)	0.024
Mean CRP, mg/l (± SD)	34 (36)	18 (31)	<0.001
Mean ESR, mm/1 hour (± SD)	46 (30)	28 (25)	<0.001
Female, %	62%	67%	ns
RF-positive, %	81%	85%	ns
ACPA-positive, %	78%	74%	ns
Smoker, %	34%	32%	ns
Mean Larsen score, 0 to 200 (± SD)	10.2 (9.4)	6.6 (6.2)	0.100
Mean BMD, g/cm² (± SD)	0.57 (0.09)	0.62 (0.07)	<0.001
Early DXR-BMD loss, g/cm² (± SD)	-0.0418 (0.02)	-0.0034 (0.008)	<0.001
Early DXR-BMD loss, %	-7.6	-0.57	<0.001
Treatment during total observation period, %
DMARDs ever, %	80%	71%	ns
MTX ever, %	39%	42%	ns
Prednisolone ever, %	48%	47%	ns

^aSD, standard deviation; DXR-BMD, bone mineral density (BMD) measured by digital X-ray radiogrammetry; HAQ, Health Assessment Questionnaire; DAS44, Disease Activity Score using 44 joint counts; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; CRP, C-reactive protein; RF, rheumatoid factor; ACPA, anticitrullinated peptide antibodies; DMARDs, disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs; MTX, methotrexate; ns, not significant. Medication refers to treatment for the whole observation period.

ISSN: 1478-6362