Antirheumatic drug treatment in patients with any visit for rheumatoid arthritis
| Drug treated (n) | Drug treated (% of total RA) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drug treatment | Overall (n=58 102) | Women (n=42 152) | Men (n=15 950) | Overall | Women | Men |
| Biological DMARD treatment* | 8508 | 6502 | 2006 | 15 | 15 | 13 |
| Non-biological DMARD treatment† | 35 858 | 25 866 | 9992 | 62 | 61 | 63 |
| Biological or non-biological DMARD treatment | 37 103 | 26 815 | 10 288 | 64 | 64 | 65 |
| Glucocorticoid treatment (ATC H02) | 28 698 | 20 894 | 7804 | 49 | 50 | 49 |
| Prescription NSAIDs (ATC M01A) | 38 240 | 27 983 | 10 257 | 66 | 66 | 64 |
| Any antirheumatic drug‡ | ||||||
| Excluding NSAIDs | 44 347 | 32 240 | 12 107 | 76 | 76 | 76 |
| Including NSAIDs | 51 659 | 37 628 | 14 031 | 89 | 89 | 88 |
↵* Biological DMARDs: etanercept, adalimumab, infliximab, rituximab, abatacept, anakinra (from the Swedish Biologics Register ARTIS, 1999–2007, and the Prescribed Drug Register: 2005–2007).
↵† Non-biological treatment: methotrexate, sulfasalazine, leflunomide, azathioprine, antimalarial agents (ATC P01B), gold (ATC M01CB01), ciclosporin (from the Prescribed Drug Register, 2005–2007).
↵‡ Defined as any of the drug categories above.
DMARD, disease-modifying antirheumatic drug; NSAID, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug.