Characteristics at each treatment initiation for the RA population (by b/tsDMARD treatment cohort and overall) and general population referents, in Swedish patients ith RA from 2010 to 2020
| b/tsDMARD treatment cohort | Gen pop | |||||
| TNFi | Rituximab | IL6i | Abatacept | JAKi | ||
| Treatment initiations (n) | 19 950 | 4032 | 3019 | 3382 | 2354 | 92 180 |
| Individuals (n) | 15 090 | 4032 | 2956 | 3382 | 2150 | 91 207 |
| Year of treatment start, median | 2015 | 2014 | 2015 | 2015 | 2019 | 2014 |
| Follow-up, median years (IQR) | 2 (1–4) | 3 (1–6) | 2 (1–4) | 2 (1–4) | 2 (1–3) | 7 (4–10) |
| Age at Tx start, median (IQR) | 57 (47–67) | 62 (54–72) | 58 (49–68) | 60 (52–70) | 60 (51–70) | 57 (48–68) |
| Females (%) | 77 | 75 | 80 | 80 | 82 | 76 |
| Ever smoker (%) | 58 | 65 | 59 | 62 | 59 | n/a |
| Clinical RA data | ||||||
| RA duration, median years (IQR) | 7 (3–15) | 12 (6–22) | 11 (5–19) | 12 (5–21) | 13 (7–23) | n/a |
| No previous biologics, median (IQR) | 0 (0–1) | 1 (0–2) | 2 (1–3) | 2 (1–3) | 3 (1–4) | n/a |
| Seropositive (%) | 77 | 90 | 80 | 81 | 79 | n/a |
| DAS28CRP, median (IQR) | 4.3 (3.5–5.1) | 4.6 (3.8–5.3) | 4.8 (4.0–5.5) | 4.5 (3.8–5.2) | 4.4 (3.5–5.1) | n/a |
| CRP, median (IQR) | 6 (3–17) | 9 (4–24) | 10 (4–27) | 7 (3–20) | 5 (2–16) | n/a |
| HAQ, median (IQR) | 1.0 (0.5–1.5) | 1.3 (0.8–1.8) | 1.3 (0.9–1.8) | 1.3 (0.9–1.8) | 1.3 (0.8–1.8) | n/a |
| Comorbidities* | ||||||
| Previous VTE, since 2001 (%) | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 2 |
| ACS (%) | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Other cardiac disease (%) | 21 | 33 | 25 | 32 | 29 | 15 |
| Cerebrovascular disease (%) | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Chronic kidney disease (%) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Cancer (in past 10 years) (%) | 3 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| Hospitalisation listing infection (%) | 9 | 18 | 13 | 18 | 16 | 4 |
| Coagulopathy (%) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Varicose veins (%) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Major surgery previous 3 months (%) | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| Diabetes (%) | 9 | 11 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 7 |
| COPD or asthma (%) | 14 | 20 | 16 | 22 | 19 | 11 |
| Treatments† | ||||||
| HRT or oestrogen contraceptive (%) | 13 | 14 | 15 | 17 | 14 | 12 |
| Antipsychotics (%) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| NSAID/ASA (%) | 63 | 61 | 65 | 62 | 58 | 23 |
| Anticoagulant (%) | 6 | 11 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 5 |
| Oral corticosteroids (%) | 70 | 78 | 75 | 76 | 73 | 6 |
| Healthcare consumption | ||||||
| No of specialist care visits, median (IQR) | 13 (7–22) | 19 (10–32) | 19 (10–30) | 21 (12–33) | 25 (15–39) | 2 (0–6) |
| No of hospitalisations, median (IQR) | 0 (0–1) | 1 (0–2) | 0 (0–2) | 1 (0–2) | 1 (0–2) | 0 (0–0) |
| No of filled prescriptions previous year, median (IQR) | 22 (13–36) | 30 (18–45) | 28 (17–42) | 31 (19–48) | 29 (18–46) | 5 (1–16) |
| Socioeconomics | ||||||
| Married/partnership (%) | 51 | 51 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 50 |
| Sick leave in previous year (%) | 17 | 13 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 7 |
| Disability pension in previous year (%) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
*Registered within the last 5 years before treatment initiation, unless otherwise stated.
†Registered within the last year before treatment initiation.
ACS, acute coronary syndrome; ASA, acetylsalisylic acid; b/tsDMARD, biologic/targeted synthetic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drug; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; DAS28CRP, Disease Activity Score 28 C reactive protein; HAQ, Health Assessment Questionnaire; HRT, hormone replacement therapy; IL6i, interleukin 6 inhibitor; JAKi, Janus kinase inhibitor; n/a, not applicable; NSAID, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; Gen pop, general population; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; TNFi, Tumour necrosis factor inhibitor; tx, treatment; VTE, venous thromboembolism.