Baseline characteristics
| Concomitant DMARD treatment at baseline | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristics* | Total cohort | None | MTX | SSZ | LEF | MTX+SSZ | MTX+HCQ | MTX+SSZ+HCQ | |
| Patients, n (%) | 10 396 (100.0) | 3339 (32.1) | 4418 (42.5) | 308 (3.0) | 610 (5.9) | 902 (8.7) | 401 (3.9) | 418 (4.0) | |
| Demographic characteristics | Mean age (SD) (years) | 56.1 (12.3) | 58.2 (12.0) | 55.3 (12.9) | 56.9 (11.8) | 57.1 (11.4) | 53.7 (12.7) | 54.1 (12.5) | 52.9 (12.5) |
| Female, n (%) | 7915 (76) | 2605 (78) | 3358 (76) | 228 (74) | 469 (77) | 628 (70) | 326 (81) | 301 (72) | |
| Current smokers, n (%) | 2271 (22) | 696 (21) | 947 (21) | 62 (20) | 139 (23) | 212 (24) | 99 (25) | 116 (28) | |
| Comorbidities,† n (%) | 6253 (60) | 2212 (66) | 2557 (58) | 190 (62) | 371 (61) | 478 (53) | 214 (53) | 231 (55) | |
| Disease characteristics | Mean disease duration (SD) (years) | 13.3 (9.7) | 14.4 (9.8) | 13.3 (9.6) | 13.8 (9.6) | 14.5 (9.7) | 10.3 (9.1) | 11.2 (9.6) | 10.1 (8.3) |
| Mean number of previous DMARDs (SD) | 3.9 (1.7) | 4.4 (1.7) | 3.7 (1.6) | 3.6 (1.5) | 4.5 (1.6) | 2.8 (1.1) | 3.6 (1.3) | 3.6 (1.1) | |
| Mean DAS28 (SD) | 6.6 (1.0) | 6.7 (1.0) | 6.5 (1.0) | 6.6 (1.0) | 6.5 (0.9) | 6.5 (1.0) | 6.4 (1.0) | 6.5 (0.9) | |
| Mean HAQ (SD) | 2.0 (0.6) | 2.1 (0.6) | 2.0 (0.6) | 2.0 (0.6) | 2.0 (0.6) | 1.9 (0.6) | 1.9 (0.6) | 2.0 (0.6) | |
| Anti-TNF therapy | ETN, n (%) | 3605 (35) | 1921 (58) | 925 (21) | 121 (39) | 244 (40) | 221 (25) | 91 (23) | 82 (20) |
| INF, n (%) | 3136 (30) | 255 (8) | 2188 (50) | 28 (9) | 105 (17) | 295 (33) | 126 (31) | 139 (33) | |
| ADA, n (%) | 3655 (35) | 1163 (35) | 1305 (30) | 159 (52) | 261 (43) | 386 (43) | 184 (46) | 197 (47) | |
↵* HAQ was available for 95% of the patients; current smoking and disease duration were available for 99% of the patients; no missing values were found in the rest of the baseline characteristics.
↵† Comorbidities included one or more of the following: angina, hypertension, myocardial infarction, stroke, epilepsy, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, peptic ulcers, liver disease, renal disorder, demyelination, diabetes, hyperthyroidism, depression or a history of tuberculosis or cancer.
ADA, adalimumab; DAS, Disease Activity Score; DMARD, disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs; ETN, etanercept; HAQ, Health Assessment Questionnaire; HCQ, hydroxychloroquine; INF, infliximab; LEF, leflunomide; MTX, methotrexate; SSZ, sulfasalazine.