Cartilage destruction in early rheumatoid arthritis patients correlates with CD21−/low double-negative B cells

Table 2 Associations between mSHS, joint space narrowing score, erosion score and frequency of CD21^−/low double-negative B cells as well as age

Dependent variable	Predictors	Parameter estimate (95% CI)	p-value
mSHS^a	Intercept	− 28.55 (− .44.34; − 12.76)	0.0009
	CD21^-DN cells	0.30 (− 0.03; 0.62)	0.07
	Age	0.50 (0.28; 0.72)	< 0.0001
JSN^b	Intercept	− 21.88 (− 34.45; − 9.31)	0.0013
	CD21^-DN cells	0.29 (0.03; 0.54)	0.03
	Age	0.31 (0.13; 0.48)	0.001
ES^c	Intercept	− 6.35 (− 11.76; − 0.94)	0.02
	CD21^-DN cells	− 0.02 (− 0.13; 0.09)	0.71
	Age	0.20 (0.13; 0.28)	< 0.001
	Smoking	5.13 (0.22; 10.04)	0.04

JSN joint space narrowing score, ES erosion score, mSHS modified Sharp van der Heijde score
^amSHS model: adjusted R2 = 51%, i.e. 51% of the variation in mSHS is explained by the B cell population and age
^bJNS model: adjusted R2 = 20%, i.e. CD21-DN cells explain 20% of the variation in JNS
^cES model: adjusted R2 = 46%, i.e. age and smoking explain 46% of the variation in ES

ISSN: 1478-6362