Demographics and physician-reported disease characteristics of the adequately and not adequately controlled population
| Overall (n=1147) | Inadequate Control (DAS28 >3.2) (n=308) | Adequate Control (DAS28 ≤3.2) (n=839) | P value | |
| Age (years), mean (SD) | 51.6 (13.7) | 53.0 (13.7) | 51.1 (13.7) | 0.0366 (MW) |
| Gender (female), n (%) | 851 (74) | 230 (75) | 621 (74) | 0.8790 (FE) |
| BMI (kg/m2), mean (SD) | 25.2 (4.4) | 25.8 (4.8) | 24.9 (4.2) | 0.0038 (MW) |
| Positive for anticyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies, n (%) | 670 (76) | 184 (78) | 486 (75) | 0.3763 (FE) |
| Most recent ESR (mm/hour), mean (SD) | 18.2 (14.3) | 26.6 (17.2) | 15.2 (11.8) | <0.0001 (MW) |
| Most recent CRP (mg/L), mean (SD) | 5.4 (4.7) | 7.5 (6.4) | 4.7 (3.7) | <0.0001 (MW) |
| RF positive, n (%) | 775 (82) | 211 (81) | 564 (83) | 0.4489 (FE) |
| Time since diagnosis (years), mean (SD) | 7.0 (6.8) | 7.1 (6.9) | 7.0 (6.8) | 0.8961 (MW) |
| Currently in remission, n (%) | 614 (54) | 42 (14) | 572 (68) | <0.0001 (FE) |
| Current severity, n (%) | < 0.0001 (MW) | |||
| Mild | 829 (72) | 96 (31) | 733 (87) | |
| Moderate | 279 (24) | 179 (58) | 100 (12) | |
| Severe | 39 (3) | 33 (11) | 6 (1) | |
| Current disease status, n (%) | < 0.0001 (MW) | |||
| Improving | 327 (29) | 67 (22) | 260 (31) | |
| Stable | 661 (58) | 116 (38) | 545 (65) | |
| Deteriorating slowly | 97 (9) | 78 (26) | 19 (2) | |
| Deteriorating rapidly | 22 (2) | 21 (7) | 1 (0.1) | |
| Unstable | 31 (3) | 21 (7) | 10 (1) | |
| Current level of pain (1=none; 10=worst), mean (SD) | 2.9 (1.8) | 4.6 (1.9) | 2.3 (1.2) | <0.0001 (MW) |
| Patients who had ever experienced flares*, n (%) | 550 (48) | 204 (67) | 346 (41) | <0.0001 (FE) |
| Comorbidities, n (%)† | ||||
| Depression | 93 (8) | 48 (16) | 45 (5) | <0.0001 (FE) |
| None | 584 (51) | 107 (35) | 477 (57) | <0.0001 (FE) |
| Ever received bDMARD, n (%) | 526 (46) | 157 (51) | 369 (44) | 0.0382 (FE) |
| Current/most recent bDMARD, n (%) | 0.0178 (PC) | |||
| TNF inhibitor | 344 (65) | 91 (58) | 253 (69) | |
| Non-TNF inhibitor | 182 (35) | 66 (42) | 116 (31) | |
| Missing | 621 | 151 | 470 |
*Based on the physician’s own definition of flare.
†Only those that were significantly different between the two groups are listed.
bDMARD, biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drug; BMI, body mass index; CRP, C-reactive protein; DAS28, disease activity score in 28 joints; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; FE, Fisher exact; MW, Mann-Whitney; PC, Pearson’s χ2; RF, rheumatoid factor; TNF, tumour necrosis factor.