Factors with an exploratory p value of less than 0.05 in the regression equation were considered relevant for the event under investigation.
Since this study was exploratory, P values were not corrected for multiple comparisons and P values less than 0.05 was deemed as statistically significant.
Exploratory p-values are denoted by 'ex-p'.
Since the analyses were largely descriptive and exploratory, p-values were not calculated.
Because we considered our analyses to be exploratory, probability values are presented without adjustments for multiple comparisons.
Importantly, adjusted mean differences and exploratory P values (i.e., not based on prespecified analyses) show a difference between patients in MDA/HDA treated with abatacept plus MTX versus MTX alone, suggesting a dissociation of the profound relationship between inflammation and destruction, as seen previously for tumor necrosis factor inhibitors, tocilizumab and rituximab [ 31– 31].
Logarithmic transformation for stabilization of the observed high variances revealed a rise of 0.1 + 0.5 ng/mL for A and a decrease of 0.1 + 0.5 ng/mL for both B and C. Now, exploratory p-values for the between-group comparison using the 3-group ANCOVA model reached significance for A vs. B (p = 0.0043) and for A vs. C (p = 0.0289), based on the pre-defined significance level of α = 0.0307.
However, this exploratory study has value in terms of suggesting areas of focus for future studies.
In exploratory cases, a value equal to or higher than 0.6 for the Cronbach's alpha coefficient is considered satisfactory [ 34, 35].
However, as this was an exploratory analysis, p values are only descriptive in nature.
