Table 2

Mortality rates and cause of death in patients with ILD treated with first-line TNFi or RTX in an intention to treat analysis

RTX
n=42
All TNFi
n=309
 Total follow-up time (pyrs)256.02564.0
 Total follow-up time (pyrs) censored at 5-year follow-up150.7801.3
 Median (IQR) follow-up per person (years)6.3 (5.3–7.3)9.1 (5.0–12.0)
 Median (IQR) follow-up per person (years) censored at 5-year follow-up3.9 (2.6–4.4)2.7 (1.2–4.1)
Deaths within first 5 years following treatment start
 All-cause (n)876
 All-cause mortality/1000 pyrs (95% CI)53.0 (22.9 to 104.6)94.8 (74.7 to 118.7)
Cox regression models of relationship between treatment group and mortality*
 Unadjusted model
HR95% CIp Value
 TreatmentTNFi1.00.09
RTX0.530.26–1.10
 Adjusted model†
 TreatmentTNFi1.00.07
RTX0.490.23–1.06
Cause of death
 Deaths (n)876
 Death certificate information not yet reported to register (n)1‡1‡
 ILD present on a death certificate (%)§5 (71.4)27 (36.5)
 ILD listed as the underlying cause of death (%)§1 (14.3)12 (16.0)
 ILD present in section I on death certificate, n(%)§2 (40.0)20 (27.0)
  ILD on a death certificate I(a) (%)§1 (20.0)5 (6.8)
  ILD on a death certificate I(b) (%)§014 (18.9)
  ILD on a death certificate I(c) (%)§1 (20.0)1 (1.3)
 ILD on a death certificate II (%)§3 (42.8)7 (9.5)
  • *Analysis conducted using multiple imputation for missing data.

  • †Age, disability (HAQ), disease activity (DAS28), disease duration and sex adjusted.

  • ‡Death occurred outside of the UK and therefore no death certificate and the cause of death cannot be determined.

  • §Percentage of those with death certificate data available.

  • DAS28, disease activity score-28; ILD, interstitial lung disease; HAQ, Health Assessment Questionnaire; pyrs, person years; RTX, rituximab; TNFi, tumour necrosis factor inhibitors.