Summary of clinical criteria for initiation of a first bDMARD for European countries with at least one biologic reimbursed (n=36)
| Minimal clinical requirements for initiation of a bDMARD | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Disease duration | DAS28 level | Number of sDMARDs to be failed | |||||||||
| N (%) | Countries | Score* | N (%) | Countries | Score* | N (%) | Countries | Score* | |||
| No requirement | 23 (64%) | AL, AT, BE, DK, FI, FR, DE,GR, IS, IE, LV, LT, LU, MK, NL, NO, PT, RO, SL, ES, SE, CH and TR | 1 | No requirement | 5 (14%) | DE, IE, LU, MT and CH | 2 | <2 | 14 (39%) | AT, CZ, FR, DE, IS, IE, IT, LU, NO, PT, SK, ES, SE and CH | 2 |
| <6 months | 12 (33%) | BG, HR, CY, CZ, EE, HU, IT, MT, ME, RS, SK and UK | 0 | Up to and including 3.2 | 11 (31%) | AT, DK, FI, IS, IT, LV, NL, NO, PT, SK and ES | 1 | 2 | 18 (50%) | AL, BE, BG, HR, CY, DK, GR, HU, LT, MK, MT, ME, NL, PL, RO, RS, SL and UK | 1 |
| ≥6 months | 1 (3%) | PL | 0 | Above 3.2 | 20 (56%) | AL, BE, BG, HR, CY, CZ, EE, FR, GR, HU, LT, MK, ME, PL, RO, RS, SL, SE, TR and UK | 0 | >2 | 4 (11%) | EE, FI, LV and TR | 0 |
*Score is the contribution to the composite score for restrictiveness of clinical criteria for initiation of a biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARD). DAS28, disease activity score with 28-joint assessment; DMARD, disease-modifying antirheumatic drug; sDMARDs, synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs.
AL, Albania; AT, Austria; BE, Belgium; BG, Bulgaria; CH, Switzerland; CY, Cyprus; CZ, Czech Republic; DE, Germany; DK, Denmark; DK, Denmark; EE, Estonia; ES, Spain; FI, Finland; FR, France; GR, Greece; HR, Croatia; HU, Hungary; IE, Ireland; IS, Iceland; IT, Italy; LT, Lithuania; LU, Luxemburg; LV, Latvia; ME, Montenegro; MK, Macedonia; MT, Malta; NL, the Netherlands; NO, Norway; PL, Poland; PT, Portugal; RO, Romania; RS, Serbia; SE, Sweden; SK, Slovakia; SL, Slovenia; TR, Turkey; UK, United Kingdom.