Clinical characteristics of patients with new-onset 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 n=17 512 | 1997–2001 n=2766 | 2002–2006 n=3960 | 2007–2011 n=5513 | 2012–2015 n=5273 |
| 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) | 3.0 (1.3) |
| Symptom duration at index date, weeks* | 25 (16.7) | 27 (20.0) | 26 (18.3) | 24 (15.9) | 24 (14.4) |
| Oral glucocorticoids‡ | 10 348 (59.1) | 1313 (47.5) | 1882 (47.5) | 3742 (67.9) | 3411 (64.7) |
| DMARD, any‡ | 16 223 (92.6) | 2503 (90.5) | 3788 (95.7) | 5131 (93.1) | 4801 (91) |
| DMARD, Mtx‡ | 14 353 (82.0) | 1771 (64.0) | 3327 (84.0) | 4754 (86.2) | 4501 (85.4) |
| Biological drugs‡ | 2229 (12.7) | 187 (6.8) | 502 (12.7) | 751 (13.6) | 789 (15.0) |
*Expressed as mean (SD).
†DAS28 at first revisit to rheumatologist within 3–6 months of diagnosis.
‡Expressed as per cent of all individuals.
DAS28, Disease Activity Score 28-joint counts; DMARD, disease-modifying antirheumatic drug; Mtx, methotrexate; RA, rheumatoid arthritis.