Baseline factors, total and by treatment group
| Factors | Total (N=180) | First csDMARD (n=61) | Second-line csDMARD (n=57) | bDMARD/tsDMARD (n=62) | P value |
| Clinical factors | |||||
| Female sex | 138 (76.7) | 43 (70.5) | 45 (78.9) | 50 (80.6) | NS |
| Age (years) | 60.7±12.3 | 62.1±14.3 | 59.8±12.5 | 60.3±10.0 | NS |
| Swelling joints, P50 (P25–P75) | 0 (0–1) | 0 (0–1) | 0 (0–2) | 0 (0–1) | NS |
| Painful joints, P50 (P25–P75) | 1 (0–2) | 0 (0–2) | 1 (0–3) | 1 (0–3) | NS |
| Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (mm/hour) | 18.3±17.7 | 17.3±15.4 | 21.4±22.7 | 16.4±14.1 | NS |
| C reactive protein (mg/dL) | 0.4±0.7 | 0.5±1.0 | 0.3±0.5 | 0.4±0.7 | NS |
| Patient Global Assessment (0–10) | 4.0±2.9 | 3.2±2.9 | 4.3±2.9 | 4.4±2.9 | NS |
| Physician Global Assessment (0–10) | 2.5±2.5 | 2.2±2.3 | 2.7±2.7 | 2.5±2.6 | NS |
| DAS-28 | 2.32±1.06 | 2.10±0.80 | 2.57±1.19 | 2.32±1.13 | NS |
| RAID* | 3.9±2.7 | 3.1±2.7 | 4.3±2.7 | 4.1±2.6 | 0.04 |
| Number of comorbidities | 1.5±1.1 | 1.3±1.2 | 1.6±1.2 | 1.6±1.0 | NS |
| Time of evolution (years) | 10.8±9.3 | 8.8±9.5 | 9.4±8.2 | 13.9±9.3 | † |
| Treatment-related factors | |||||
| Treatment agreed | 146 (82.9) | 48 (81.4) | 45 (78.9) | 53 (88.3) | NS |
| Prior adverse events (patient-reported) | † | ||||
| Yes, tolerable | 24 (13.4) | 10 (16.7) | 6 (10.5) | 8 (12.9) | |
| Yes, required medication change | 74 (41.3) | 8 (13.3) | 30 (52.6) | 36 (58.1) | |
| Prior serious adverse events (from eCR) | 30 (16.7) | 3 (4.9) | 16 (28.1) | 11 (17.7) | ‡ |
| Number of concomitant treatments | 1.6±1.3 | 1.4±1.4 | 1.7±1.2 | 1.7±1.1 | NS |
| Steroids | 70 (38.9) | 19 (31.1) | 24 (42.1) | 27 (43.5) | NS |
| NSAIDs | 33 (18.3) | 10 (16.4) | 9 (15.8) | 14 (22.6) | NS |
| Administration is felt easy | 167 (92.8) | 54 (88.5) | 52 (91.2) | 61 (98.4) | NS |
| Fear of medicine | 29 (16.3) | 11 (18.6) | 9 (15.8) | 9 (14.5) | NS |
| Patient–doctor relationship | |||||
| Accessibility to rheumatologist (0–10) | 9.0±1.5 | 9.0±1.6 | 8.8±1.3 | 9.3±1.4 | NS |
| Trust in the rheumatologist (0–10) | 9.3±1.3 | 9.2±1.5 | 9.0±1.4 | 9.6±0.9 | NS |
| Patient trust in doctor (physician, 0–10) | 8.4±1.1 | 8.5±0.9 | 8.2±1.2 | 8.4±1.2 | NS |
| Patient trust in treatment (physician, 0–10) | 8.2±1.3 | 8.5±1.1 | 8.0±1.4 | 8.2±1.4 | NS |
| Time of visit | NS | ||||
| Very short | 4 (2.3) | 1 (1.7) | 1 (1.7) | 2 (3.3) | |
| Suitable | 165 (94.8) | 55 (96.5) | 54 (94.7) | 56 (93.3) | |
| Very long | 5 (2.9) | 1 (1.7) | 2 (3.5) | 2 (3.3) | |
| Information is felt consistent | 171 (96.6) | 59 (96.7) | 53 (96.6) | 59 (98.3) | NS |
| Adequacy of information (patient, 0–10) | |||||
| Efficacy | 7.9±2.2 | 7.6±2.1 | 7.7±2.4 | 8.6±2.1 | ‡ |
| Toxicity | 6.8±3.0 | 6.5±2.9 | 6.6±3.1 | 7.4±3.1 | NS |
| Practical aspects | 8.6±1.8 | 8.1±2.0 | 8.4±1.7 | 9.2±1.2 | † |
| Adaptation to needs | 8.0±2.0 | 7.5±2.3 | 7.8±2.0 | 8.8±1.5 | † |
| Adequacy of information (physician, 0–10) | |||||
| Efficacy | 8.5±1.1 | 8.5±1.0 | 8.4±1.3 | 8.6±1.0 | NS |
| Toxicity | 8.4±1.4 | 8.3±1.5 | 8.2±1.3 | 8.6±1.3 | NS |
| Practical aspects | 8.7±1.2 | 8.8±1.1 | 8.6±1.4 | 8.8±1.1 | NS |
| Adaptation to needs | 8.6±1.2 | 8.5±1.2 | 8.4±1.4 | 8.7±0.9 | NS |
| Access to health professionals if doubts | 164 (93.2) | 57 (95.0) | 50 (89.3) | 57 (95.0) | NS |
| Psychosocial factors | |||||
| BMQ score§ | |||||
| Need (0–25) | 20.6±3.9 | 19.7±3.9 | 20.6±3.9 | 21.5±3.8 | 0.02 |
| Concern/damage (0–25) | 14.5±4.3 | 15.4±4.8 | 14.0±5.6 | 14.2±4.3 | NS |
| Feel privileged with medication | 145 (81.9) | 46 (78.0) | 43 (76.8) | 56 (90.3) | NS |
| Anxiety/depression | 34 (17.8) | 10 (17.9) | 12 (21.4) | 12 (20.0) | NS |
| Family/social support (0–10) | 8.6±1.9 | 8.4±2.2 | 8.3±2.0 | 9.0±1.4 | NS |
Data are expressed as n (%) or as mean±SD unless otherwise noted.
*RAID values range from 0 to 10 with higher scores indicating worse status.
†<.001.
‡<.01.
§Higher scores indicate stronger beliefs; values range from 5 to 50 on each scale.
bDMARD, biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drug; BMQ, Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire; csDMARD, conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug; eCR, electronic clinical records; NS, not significant; NSAID, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug; RAID, Rheumatoid Arthritis Impact of Disease Index; tsDMARD, targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug.