Wolfe F, Cathey M A
Arthritis Center, Wichita, KS.
J Rheumatol. 1991 May;18(5):672-7.
We studied 235 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) beginning therapy with methotrexate utilizing a k-means clustering algorithm. Four groups were identified: mild RA (Group 3), very severe RA (Group 4), and 2 groups intermediate in severity (Groups 1 and 2). Group 2, the largest of the clusters (n = 89), appeared to have greater tolerability of RA as measured by severity and psychological variables, and took the drug almost twice as long as other groups, although improvement was not greater nor side effects fewer. All groups improved over a mean of 1.9 years, and the degree of improvement was not related to the initial severity classification. Improvement occurred almost equally in all clusters, and the relative ranking of the groups was maintained at study closure.
我们利用k均值聚类算法对235例开始使用甲氨蝶呤治疗的类风湿关节炎（RA）患者进行了研究。共识别出四组：轻度RA（第3组）、非常严重RA（第4组）以及两组严重程度中等的RA（第1组和第2组）。第2组是最大的聚类组（n = 89），从严重程度和心理变量衡量，该组似乎对RA具有更高的耐受性，服用药物的时间几乎是其他组的两倍，尽管改善程度并未更大，副作用也未更少。所有组在平均1.9年的时间里都有改善，改善程度与初始严重程度分类无关。所有聚类组的改善情况几乎相同，且在研究结束时各组的相对排名保持不变。
