Clinical characteristics of Swedish patients with new-onset rheumatoid arthritis (RA) at inclusion in the Swedish Rheumatology Quality register, including data on treatments initiated within 1 year of inclusion, by calendar period of RA diagnosis
| Year of RA diagnosis | All | 1997–2002 | 2003–2006 | 2007–2010 | 2011–2014 |
| DAS28 at inclusion* | 4.9 (1.4) | 5.1 (1.3) | 5.3 (1.3) | 4.9 (1.5) | 4.6 (1.5) |
| DAS28 at 3–6 months*† | 3.2 (1.4) | 3.5 (1.4) | 3.4 (1.4) | 3.1 (1.3) | 3.1 (1.4) |
| Symptom duration at index date, weeks,* mean (SD) | 25 (17) | 27 (18) | 26 (18) | 25 (16) | 24 (14) |
| Oral glucocorticoids within first year of diagnosis‡ | 59 | 46 | 48 | 69 | 66 |
| DMARD, any within first year of diagnosis‡ | 93 | 91 | 96 | 94 | 92 |
| DMARD, Mtx within first year of diagnosis‡ | 82 | 66 | 86 | 87 | 86 |
| Biological drugs within first year of diagnosis‡ | 13 | 7 | 14 | 14 | 16 |
*Expressed as mean (SD).
† DAS28 at first revisit to rheumatologist within 3–6 months of diagnosis.
‡Expressed as % of all individuals.
DMARD, disease-modifying antirheumatic drug; Mtx, methotrexate.