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Table 4 Characteristics indicated by severity of change during Pain Flares

From: Disease activity flares and pain flares in an early rheumatoid arthritis inception cohort; characteristics, antecedents and sequelae

 

All Pain Flares (n = 377)

Incremental Pain Flare (n = 334)

Primary Pain Flare (n = 43)

p

DAS28

0.6 (1.4)

0.3 (1.1)

1.8 (1.4)

< 0.001

ESR

1 (17)

0 (16)

12 (18)

< 0.001

SJC

1 (4)

0 (4)

2 (4)

0.012

TJC

1 (5)

1 (5)

4 (6)

0.001

VAS

15 (26)

11 (24)

40 (30)

< 0.001

BP

11 (6)

10 (4)

23 (5)

< 0.001

VT

4 (9)

4 (9)

9 (10)

0.001

MH

4 (10)

3 (10)

8 (9)

0.005

  1. Data are mean (sd) changes at the time of Pain Flare categorisation from the preceding assessment. Change during flare is rescaled to indicate worsening with positive values for all measures (including SF36 subscales). Pairwise comparisons between latent classes of Pain Flare analysed by univariate t-tests. Bold indicates the values for the most severely affected subgroups when heterogeneity was detected
  2. ESR erythrocyte sedimentation rate, SJC swollen joint count, TJC tender joint count, VAS visual analogue scale for general health, BP SF36-Bodily Pain, VT SF36-Vitality, MH SF36-Mental Health. Changes in SF36 scores = 10 indicate one standard deviation predicted for the UK population