Patient characteristics at start of bDMARD therapy, among all bionaïve Swedish patients with RA, 2011–2015
| TNFi | Rituximab | Mean difference versus TNFi (95% CI) | Abatacept | Mean difference versus TNFi (95% CI) | Tocilizumab | Mean difference versus TNFi (95% CI) | |
| Patients, n | 5307 | 655 | 274 | 245 | |||
| Demographics | |||||||
| Age, mean (SD) | 55.2 (14.1) | 65.1 (12.5) | 10.0 (9.0 to 11.1) | 61.4 (13.3) | 6.2 (4.7 to 7.8) | 58.5 (13.7) | 3.3 (1.7 to 5.1) |
| Female, n (%) | 3929 (74.0) | 471 (71.9) | 1.3 (−2.4 to 5.3) | 202 (73.7) | 1.7 (−3.4 to 7.2) | 190 (77.6) | 4.5 (−0.7 to 10.1) |
| Highest education, n (%) | |||||||
| 9 years or less | 908 (21.2) | 165 (33.0) | 5.7 (1.6 to 10.1) | 60 (29.0) | 4.2 (−1.5 to 10.3) | 44 (25.1) | 2.0 (−4.8 to 8.5) |
| 10 to 12 years | 2091 (48.9) | 219 (43.8) | −2.6 (−7.4 to 1.9) | 102 (49.3) | 1.2 (−5.5 to 8.2) | 87 (49.7) | 2.0 (−5.5 to 9.9) |
| >12 years | 1279 (29.9) | 116 (23.2) | −3.1 (−7.1 to 0.9) | 45 (21.7) | −5.4 (−11.1 to 0.3) | 44 (25.1) | −4.0 (−10.6 to 2.7) |
| Country of birth, n (%) | |||||||
| Sweden | 485 (9.1) | 82 (12.5) | −6.9 (−10.1 to −3.3) | 21 (7.7) | −1.6 (−5.8 to 2.7) | 27 (11.0) | −1.6 (−6.3 to 3.1) |
| Scandinavia | 267 (5.0) | 54 (8.2) | 1.6 (−0.6 to 3.9) | 19 (6.9) | 1.1 (−2.2 to to 4.1) | 13 (5.3) | −0.3 (−3.3 to 2.4) |
| Other | 4555 (85.8) | 519 (79.2) | 5.3 (2.5 to 7.8) | 234 (85.4) | 0.5 (−2.9 to 3.5) | 205 (83.7) | 1.9 (−2.3 to 5.7) |
| Medical history | |||||||
| Days hospitalised last 5 years, mean (SD) | 5.5 (16.5) | 15.2 (30.5) | 8.0 (5.4 to 10.2) | 14.9 (29.0) | 8.4 (4.7 to to 11.5) | 7.5 (16.6) | 1.1 (−1.2 to 3.1) |
| Days of work loss last 5 years, mean (SD) | 363.1 (588.2) | 587.2 (703.2) | 183.0 (103.1 to 264.7) | 560.2 (715.8) | 151.1 (45.6 to 261.9) | 407.9 (651.3) | 20.4 (−77.7 to 116.2) |
| Healthcare costs last 5 years, TSEK, mean (SD) | 123.3 (133.4) | 228.0 (234.2) | 85.4 (66.6 to 102.6) | 213.0 (216.0) | 77.6 (52.5 to 103.3) | 136.0 (143.1) | 2.5 (−16.7 to 20.7) |
| RA clinical characteristics | |||||||
| Rheumatoid factor positive (%) | 3886 (75.2) | 566 (88.2) | 10.4 (7.6 to 13.3) | 206 (76.6) | −0.5 (−6.0 to 4.9) | 182 (75.2) | −0.7 (−6.4 to 4.9) |
| Disease duration, years, mean (SD) | 9.1 (9.8) | 12.9 (12.7) | 2.1 (1.0 to 3.1) | 9.6 (11.6) | −0.7 (−2.0 to 0.6) | 7.3 (10.2) | −2.3 (−3.6 to −1.1) |
| HAQ, mean (SD) | 1.02 (0.61) | 1.16 (0.66) | 0.06 (−0.00 to 0.13) | 1.12 (0.61) | 0.07 (−0.02 to 0.16) | 1.14 (0.55) | 0.10 (0.02 to 0.17) |
| DAS28, mean (SD) | 4.70 (1.28) | 4.83 (1.28) | −0.04 (−0.17 to 0.09) | 4.95 (1.23) | 0.16 (−0.01 to 0.34) | 5.16 (1.13) | 0.39 (0.23 to 0.55) |
| Tender joints, 0–28, mean (SD) | 6.9 (5.6) | 6.7 (5.6) | −0.1 (−0.6 to 0.5) | 7.0 (5.5) | 0.2 (−0.6 to 0.9) | 7.9 (6.0) | 0.9 (−0.0 to 1.7) |
| Swollen joints, 0–28, mean (SD) | 6.3 (4.8) | 6.1 (4.6) | −0.4 (−0.9 to 0.0) | 6.7 (5.0) | 0.3 (−0.4 to 1.0) | 6.8 (5.1) | 0.5 (−0.2 to 1.2) |
| Global health, mean (SD) | 54.4 (24.8) | 53.6 (24.8) | −1.3 (−3.6 to 1.3) | 56.4 (23.5) | 1.5 (−1.5 to 4.5) | 57.3 (21.8) | 2.7 (−0.4 to 5.7) |
| ESR, mean (SD) | 24.2 (20.4) | 30.6 (22.5) | 2.2 (0.1 to 4.4) | 30.4 (22.2) | 4.0 (1.1 to 6.9) | 33.4 (26.3) | 7.7 (4.1 to 11.2) |
| CRP, mean (SD) | 15.9 (21.9) | 18.8 (22.4) | 0.7 (−1.4 to 2.8) | 20.6 (25.9) | 3.4 (−0.1 to 6.7) | 23.3 (28.0) | 7.4 (3.6 to 10.9) |
| VAS pain, mean (SD) | 54.8 (24.9) | 53.5 (24.5) | −1.7 (−4.1 to 0.8) | 56.9 (24.1) | 1.8 (−1.5 to 5.3) | 57.3 (23.8) | 2.2 (−1.1 to 5.5) |
| Conc. use of MTX, n (%) | 3812 (71.8) | 352 (53.7) | −17.8 (−21.8 to −13.6) | 161 (58.8) | −12.6 (−18.7 to −6.7) | 135 (55.1) | −15.5 (−21.7 to −9.4) |
| Conc. use of non-MTX csDMARD, n (%) | 1035 (19.5) | 166 (25.3) | 6.9 (3.2 to 10.6) | 54 (19.7) | 0.4 (−5.1 to 5.2) | 28 (11.4) | −6.9 (−11.2 to −2.9) |
| Conc. use of oral steroids, n (%) | 2692 (50.7) | 375 (57.3) | 4.0 (−0.0 to 8.0) | 139 (50.7) | −1.7 (−7.8 to 4.2) | 116 (47.3) | −4.3 (−10.8 to 2.3) |
| Conc. use of NSAIDs, n (%) | 1573 (29.6) | 128 (19.5) | −8.4 (−11.7 to −5.0) | 60 (21.9) | −6.1 (−11.2 to −1.2) | 56 (22.9) | −4.3 (−9.9 to 0.9) |
Mean differences are compared with TNFi in multivariable linear regression adjusted for age, sex and geographical region with bootstrapped CIs.
bDMARD, biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug; csDMARD, conventional synthetic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drug. ; RA, rheumatoid arthritis ; TNFi, tumour necrosis factor inhibitor; TSEK, Thousand SEK; MTX, methotrexate.