Table 2

Baseline characteristics of patient in medication strategy trials

Study	Arms	Adjustment if (target)	Adjustment to	Mean age (SD) at inclusion	Women (%)	Median (range)/mean±SD disease duration since diagnosis	RF+ (%)
FIN-RACo16	SSZ+MTX+HCQ	Int ACR remis criteria^* not met	Dose increase	47±10	n=56	7.3 (2–22) months	70
	SSZ		Dose increase	48±10	n=65	8.6 (2–23) months	66
NEO-RACo21	SSZ+MTX+HCQ+IFX	Int ACR remis criteria^* not met	Dose increase	46±10	67	4 (2–6) months (symptom duration)	68
	SSZ+MTX+HCQ+placebo		Dose increase
BeSt22	Seq mono	DAS₄₄ >2.4	MTX→SSZ→Lef	54±13	68	2 (1–5) weeks	67
	Step up		MTX→+SSZ→+HCQ	54±13	71	2 (1–4)	64
	MTX+SSZ+pred		→MTX+CsA	55±14	65	2 (1–4)	65
	MTX+IFX		Dose increase	54±14	66	3 (1–5)	64
GUEPARD27	MTX+ada	DAS₂₈ ≥3.2	Ada dose increase	47.8±15.7	80	<6 months	74
	MTX		Add ada
Saunders et al28	Step-up	DAS₂₈ ≥3.2	SSZ→+MTX→+HCQ	55±11	79	13±12 months	72
	Triple therapy		MTX+SSZ+HCQ → dose↑	55±15	76	10±9	69
Ferraccioli et al29	MTX	ACR₅₀ not met	+CsA → +SSZ	59±0, 7	86	1.2±0.8 years	73
	CsA		+MTX → +SSZ	54±14	84	1.0±0.8	52
	SSZ		Dose increase	59±15	86	2.0±1.0	55
Verschueren et al30	Step-down	Based on DAS and CRP	SSZ+MTX+ step-down pred	45±17	63	0.7±0.6 months	79
	Step-up		SSZ→ +MTX→ + HCQ→ +aza→ add other	55±15	65	0.8±0.7	52

↵* The criterion ‘no fatigue’ was omitted.
→ +, add following; →, change to following; dose ↑, dose increase.
ACR, American College of Rheumatology; Ada, Adalimumab; aza, azathioprine; CRP, C-reactive protein; CsA, ciclosporin; DAS, Disease Activity Score; FIN-RACo, Finnish Rheumatoid Arthritis Combination Therapy; GUEPARD, GUerir la PolyArthrite Rhumatoide Debutante (cure early RA); HCQ, hydrochloroquine; IFX, infl iximab; Int ACR remis, intensifi es ACR remission criteria; Lef, lefl unomide; MTX, methotrexate; pred, prednisone; seq mono, sequential monotherapy; SSZ, sulfasalazrine.