Baseline characteristics by treatment group at inclusion
| MTX | sDMARDs no MTX | TNFα inhibitors | Rituximab | Other biologics | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | 2060 | 928 | 4649 | 703 | 568 | 8908 |
| Follow-up (months)* | 43.9 (32.7) | 39.4 (31.7) | 46.5 (32.3) | 28.0 (14.6) | 25.4 (23.1) | 42.4 (31.6) |
| Female | 1565 (76.0) | 744 (80.2) | 3584 (77.1) | 552 (78.5) | 438 (77.1) | 6883 (77.3) |
| Age | 56.4 (12.0) | 58.5 (12.4) | 54.5 (12.4) | 58.5 (12.0) | 56.4 (12.9) | 55.8 (12.4) |
| Disease duration | 7.2 (7.7) | 8.8 (9.3) | 11.2 (9.3) | 13.6 (10.2) | 12.9 (9.0) | 10.3 (9.2) |
| Rheumatoid factor positive | 1361 (66.1) | 591 (63.7) | 3614 (78.0) | 578 (82.3) | 416 (73.9) | 6560 (73.8) |
| DAS28 | 4.9 (1.3) | 4.8 (1.3) | 5.6 (1.3) | 5.5 (1.3) | 5.6 (1.3) | 5.3 (1.3) |
| Percent of full function (FFbH) | 69.2 (21.6) | 67.7 (22.0) | 59.2 (23.1) | 53.8 (23.6) | 58.1 (23.9) | 61.9 (23.3) |
| Glucocorticoids | 1260 (61.1) | 516 (55.6) | 3456 (73.3) | 523 (74.4) | 400 (70.4) | 6155 (69.1) |
| Prednisone dose (mg/d) | 4.2 (5.4) | 3.6 (4.4) | 6.4 (7.0) | 6.3 (5.9) | 6.0 (6.0) | 5.6 (6.3) |
| Diabetes | 175 (8.5) | 101 (10.9) | 418 (9.0) | 76 (10.8) | 58 (10.2) | 828 (9.3) |
| Coronary heart disease | 114 (5.5) | 70 (7.5) | 324 (7.0) | 84 (12.0) | 51 (9.0) | 643 (7.2) |
| Among them: heart failure | 20 (1.0) | 11 (1.2) | 110 (2.4) | 41 (5.8) | 24 (4.2) | 206 (2.3) |
| Chronic lung disease | 111 (5.4) | 77 (8.3) | 349 (7.5) | 65 (9.3) | 36 (6.3) | 638 (7.2) |
| Chronic renal disease | 23 (1.1) | 26 (2.8) | 188 (4.0) | 45 (6.4) | 30 (5.3) | 312 (3.5) |
| Prior malignancy | 69 (3.4) | 32 (3.5) | 96 (2.1) | 82 (11.7) | 28 (4.9) | 307 (3.4) |
| Osteoporosis | 291 (14.1) | 157 (16.9) | 986 (21.2) | 194 (27.6) | 138 (24.3) | 1766 (19.8) |
| Smoker | 501 (24.3) | 178 (19.2) | 1077 (23.2) | 161 (23.0) | 136 (24.0) | 2053 (23.1) |
Values are means (SDs) or numbers (%) as appropriate. Methotrexate (MTX) group: patients treated with MTX alone or in combination with other synthetic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (sDMARD), sDMARD no MTX group: treatment with sDMARDs without MTX.
*Follow-up of patients per treatment group at inclusion.