Table 1

Patient characteristics at the time of initiation of the first DMARD treatment

Baseline variableConservative: csDMARD
(n=330)
Early aggressive: cs+bDMARD
(n=135)
NMean±SDNMean±SDP value*
Age (years)3309.81±5.0813510.24±4.740.40
Age of diagnosis (years)3309.70±5.1113510.14±4.780.39
Year of diagnosis3302013.57±3.141352013.12±2.880.15
Onset age (years)2658.18±4.861108.77±5.040.29
Disease duration at diagnosis (years)2661.40±2.241091.66±2.970.35
Time since diagnosis (years)3300.11±0.161350.09±0.160.36
cJADAS10 (0–30)20312.39±5.919216.08±7.14<0.0001
Active joint count (0–71)2967.53±8.8712711.97±11.77<0.0001
Patient/parent global assessment of well-being (0–10)2943.39±2.461224.54±2.69<0.0001
Physician global assessment (0–10)2214.14±2.45985.08±2.680.002
Limited range of motion (0–71)2965.51±7.271279.33±11.30<0.0001
Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (mm/h)17519.79±19.548532.33±29.39<0.0001
Global pain NRS (0–10)2984.15±2.711245.12±2.650.0008
PedsQL generic total16567.58±17.536761.35±19.240.018
  • bDMARD, biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug; cJADAS, clinical Juvenile Arthritis Disease Activity Score; csDMARD, conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug; NRS, Numerical Rating Scale; PedsQL, Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory.