Fig. 2

Longitudinal data of percentages of patients with high psychological stress by MHI-5 (a), total MRI inflammation scores (b) and CRP levels (c), in patients presenting with CSA, and during and after the development of clinical synovitis (a, b, c) and frequency of patients with ‘high stress’ over time in CSA patients that did not progress to clinical synovitis (d). In A the percentages of patients with high stress, with all patients who progressed to clinical arthritis as reference, at baseline 10% (4/39) had ‘high stress’, at arthritis onset 31% (9/29) and 1 year thereafter 8% (2/25). In B the MRI-detected inflammation scores increased during progression to clinical arthritis (p = 0.066); the number of MRI scans at the final time point is limited, hence these data were not incorporated in statistical analyses. In D the percentages of patients with high stress, among all CSA patients who did not develop clinical arthritis during 2 years of follow-up (n = 196) are shown; this percentage remained rather stable (p = 0.42)