Table 1 Baseline demographic and clinical characteristics by treatment group
| Â | Overall | Treatment group | P value | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Immediate combination therapy | Step up from MTX monotherapy | |||||||
AE | AT | MTX (SE) | SE | MTX (ST) | ST | |||
Age, mean ± SD, years | 49.3 ± 12.7 | 50.5 ± 13.4 | 49 ± 12.7 | 47.7 ± 11.9 | 48.9 ± 12.9 | 47.6 ± 12.8 | 48.7 ± 11.1 | 0.69 |
Female sex, n (% of total) | 404 (72.3) | 142 (73.6) | 72 (75.8) | 23 (67.6) | 101 (69.7) | 14 (58.3) | 52 (76.5) | 0.47 |
BMI, mean ± SD, kg/m2 | 30.1 ± 7.5 | 29.7 ± 7.2 | 30.4 ± 8.7 | 29.3 ± 5.4 | 30.9 ± 7.1 | 30 ± 5.9 | 29.7 ± 8.4 | 0.73 |
Disease duration, mean ± SD, years | 3.5 ± 6.4 | 3.4 ± 6.2 | 3.9 ± 7.1 | 2.8 ± 5.8 | 3 ± 5.4 | 4.5 ± 7.3 | 4.6 ± 7.5 | 0.47 |
RF-positive, n (% of total) | 495 (88.6) | 168 (87.1) | 88 (92.6) | 31 (91.2) | 130 (89.7) | 20 (83.3) | 58 (85.3) | 0.59 |
DAS28-ESR, mean ± SD | 5.8 ± 1.1 | 5.8 ± 1.1 | 5.7 ± 1.1 | 5.5 ± 1.0 | 5.9 ± 1.1 | 5.6 ± 0.9 | 6 ± 1.1 | 0.20 |
Baseline SAA, n (mean ± SD), mg/L | 559 (22.4 ± 72.8) | 193 (34.1 ± 116.6) | 95 (17.4 ± 33.8) | 34 (13 ± 14.4) | 145 (16.1 ± 24.7) | 24 (12.3 ± 38) | 68 (17.9 ± 31.3) | 0.16 |
Baseline CRP, n (mean ± SD), mg/L | 594 (14.1 ± 23.1) | 194 (16 ± 25.4) | 104 (14.3 ± 26.1) | 36 (9.7 ± 12.1) | 159 (12.9 ± 20.5) | 25 (8 ± 9) | 76 (15.9 ± 24.8) | 0.38 |