Table 1

Baseline characteristics of the study cohorts of Swedish patients with RA initiating a b/tsDMARD treatment 2016–2020

	Initiators of tofacitinib	Initiators of baricitinib	Initiators of upadacitinib	Initiators of all JAKis	Initiators of a non-TNFi bDMARD	Initiators of a TNFi	General population Reference cohort
Observations (treatment initiations)	377	1676	90	2143	4128	8580
Individuals	377	1676	90	1967	3520	7343	48 318
Age years, median (IQR)	58 (50–67)	59 (50–70)	56 (49–64)	59 (50–69)	60 (51–70)	56 (46–67)	57 (47–68)
Female, %	83	81	86	82	79	78	78
Median follow-up, years	2.15	1.98	0.14	1.95	2.83	2.49	2.73
Total person time at risk, years	799	3207	15	4022	11 231	21 389	130 026
Disease-related
Disease duration years, median (IQR)	12.9 (7.2–23.9)	13.2 (6.7–21.9)	15.6 (7.8–22.1)	13.2 (6.8–22.3)	11.2 (4.9–20.0)	7.1 (2.6–14.7)
Seropositive, %	76	80	73	79	84	76
DAS28CRP, median (IQR)	4.6 (3.7–5.4)	4.4 (3.5–5.1)	4.2 (3.3–5.0)	4.4 (3.5–5.1)	4.5 (3.7–5.2)	4.1 (3.4–4.9)
DAS28CRP missing, %	45	40	49	41	43	41
CRP <5, %	46	47	54	47	40	48
CRP5-9, %	13	18	18	17	18	18
CRP 10–19, %	13	17	11	16	17	16
CRP ≥20, %	27	19	18	20	25	18
CRP missing, %	34	29	37	30	32	30
Smoker, %	58	59	60	59	60	57
Smoking missing, %	13	19	20	18	20	28
0 previous b/tsDMARDs, %	9	13	6	12	20	63
1–2 previous b/tsDMARDs, %	28	39	34	37	48	31
3+previous b/tsDMARDs, %	63	48	60	51	31	6
Treatment related, %
Concomitant methotrexate use, %	36	43	39	42	46	63	1
Concomitant oral steroid use, %	68	64	61	64	68	61	2
Prednisolone use (average among users) mg prior 1 year, %	4.2 (2.7–6.8)	4.1 (2.1–6.2)	4.2 (2.1–5.7)	4.1 (2.1–6.3)	4.1 (2.7–6.8)	3.4 (1.4–5.5)	1.4 (0.7–4.8)
Comorbidities (previous 5 years), %
History of diabetes types 1 and 2	10	10	6	10	11	10	8
History of ischaemic heart disease	5	5	1	5	6	3	2
History of hospitalised infections	13	13	6	12	13	6	3
History of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease	10	8	6	8	10	6	3
History of kidney failure	2	1	1	2	2	1	1
History of heart failure	2	2	2	2	3	1	1
History of stroke	5	5	3	5	6	2	3
History of VTE	4	3	3	3	3	2	1
History of joint surgery	7	8	3	8	7	5	2
History of hypertension	12	15	11	14	16	9	7
History of NMSC	1.6	1.9	3.3	1.9	1.9	1.5	1.0
Drug dispensations (previous 6 months), %
Lipid lowering drugs	15	15	14	15	16	13	14
Other measures of comorbidities/health
Hospital days in the previous year	5 (1–17)	5 (2–12)	5 (3–40)	5 (2–13)	7 (3–15)	4 (2–10)	5 (2–13)
Sick leave in the previous year, %	17	16	21	16	15	17	7
Disability pension in the previous year, %	2	1	0	1	1	1	0
Socioeconomics
Education >12 years, %	29	33	36	33	31	35	38
Married/partner, %	54	51	62	52	51	50	49

b/tsDMARD, biological/targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug; CRP, C reactive protein; DAS28, Disease Activity Score 28; JAKi, Janus kinase inhibitor; NMSC, non-melanoma skin cancer; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; TNFi, tumour necrosis factor inhibitor; VTE, venous thromboembolism.