Self-reported oral health habits during the study
| Baseline | Follow-up | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ERA (N=53) | CRA (N=28) | Controls (N=43) | p Value* | ERA (N=47)† | p Value‡ | CRA (N=26)† | p Value‡ | |
| Tooth brushing | ||||||||
| Twice a day, N (%) | 35/53 (66.0)b | 22/28 (78.6)a b | 38/43 (88.4)a | 0.035 | 37/47 (78.7) | 00.125 | 20/25 (80.0) | 1.000 |
| Once a day or less, N (%) | 18/53 (34.0)b | 6/28 (21.4)b | 5/43 (11.6)a | 10/47 (21.3) | 5/25 (20.0) | |||
| Approximal teeth cleaning, N (%) | 28/53 (52.8)a | 15/28 (53.6)a | 34/43 (79.1)b | 0.018 | 28/47 (59.6) | 1.000 | 15/25 (60.0) | 0.250 |
| Dental appointments <2 years, N (%) | 43/53 (81.1)b | 28/28 (100)a | 41/43 (95.3)a | 0.009 | ||||
| Dental treatment, N (%) | ||||||||
| Periodontal | 10/53 (18.9)a | 4/28 (14.3)a | 28/43 (65.1)b | 0.000 | 21/46 (45.7) | 0.001 | 11/25 (44.0) | 0.109 |
| Restorative fillings | 27/53 (50.9)b | 21/28 (75.0)a | 21/43 (48.8)b | 0.063 | 22/46 (47.8) | 0.424 | 10/25 (40.0) | 0.004 |
*The p values are based on cross-tabulation with χ2-test.
†At ERA group six drop-outs, at CRA group three drop-outs for personal reasons.
‡ERA and CRA are compared at baseline and follow-up, p value by non-parametric McNemar's test, related samples.
The figures are frequencies (N=number of patients) with percentages.
a bEach subscript letter denotes a subset of study group categories whose column proportions do not differ significantly from each other at the 0.05 level.
CRA, chronic rheumatoid arthritis; ERA, early rheumatoid arthritis.