Demographics and baseline characteristics of patients with rheumatoid arthritis on DMARD therapy
| b/tsDMARD switchers (1) | First b/tsDMARD users (2) | csDMARD users (3) | Standardised difference 1 vs 3 | Standardised difference 2 vs 3 | Standardised difference 1 vs 2 | |
| N | 17 726 (100.0) | 37 993 (100.0) | 92 509 (100.0) | – | – | – |
| Sex | ||||||
| Female | 13 948 (78.7) | 28 489 (75.0) | 70 014 (75.7) | 0.072 | −0.016 | 0.088 |
| Male | 3778 (21.3) | 9504 (25.0) | 22 495 (24.3) | −0.072 | 0.016 | −0.088 |
| Age (years, mean±SD) | 54.6±12.8 | 54.7±13.4 | 60.1±14.6 | −0.401 | −0.385 | −0.003 |
| Race | ||||||
| White | 12 432 (70.1) | 26 316 (69.3) | 61 345 (66.3) | 0.082 | 0.064 | 0.017 |
| Black | 1483 (8.4) | 3208 (8.4) | 9101 (9.8) | −0.049 | −0.049 | 0.000 |
| Hispanic | 1915 (10.8) | 4196 (11.0) | 11 160 (12.1) | −0.041 | −0.034 | −0.006 |
| Asian | 390 (2.2) | 925 (2.4) | 2315 (2.5) | −0.020 | −0.006 | −0.013 |
| Unknown | 1508 (8.5) | 3348 (8.8) | 8588 (9.3) | −0.028 | −0.017 | −0.011 |
| Pre-enrolment (years, mean±SD) | 4.4±3.2 | 4.0±2.9 | 4.3±3.1 | 0.032 | −0.100 | 0.110 |
| History of alcohol abuse/drug abuse | 3551 (20.0) | 6494 (17.1) | 15 714 (17.0) | 0.077 | 0.003 | 0.075 |
| Ever smoker | 2896 (16.3) | 5414 (14.2) | 12 902 (13.9) | 0.067 | 0.009 | 0.058 |
| Medical history | ||||||
| VTE | 615 (3.5) | 1070 (2.8) | 3191 (3.4) | 0.005 | −0.035 | 0.040 |
| DVT | 476 (2.7) | 838 (2.2) | 2541 (2.7) | 0.000 | −0.032 | 0.032 |
| PE | 261 (1.5) | 427 (1.1) | 1247 (1.3) | 0.017 | −0.018 | 0.035 |
| Hypertension | 8235 (46.5) | 15 925 (41.9) | 46 803 (50.6) | −0.082 | −0.175 | 0.093 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 3028 (17.1) | 5706 (15.0) | 17 478 (18.9) | −0.047 | −0.104 | 0.057 |
| Hyperlipidemia | 7082 (40.0) | 13 520 (35.6) | 40 467 (43.7) | −0.075 | −0.166 | 0.091 |
| Congestive heart failure | 708 (4.0) | 1268 (3.3) | 5410 (5.8) | −0.083 | −0.120 | 0.037 |
| MI or stroke | 1333 (7.5) | 2452 (6.5) | 8992 (9.7) | −0.079 | −0.117 | 0.039 |
| Atrial fibrillation/flutter | 665 (3.8) | 1171 (3.1) | 4916 (5.3) | −0.072 | −0.110 | 0.038 |
| Chronic kidney disease | 2021 (11.4) | 3844 (10.1) | 13 239 (14.3) | −0.087 | −0.129 | 0.042 |
| Malignancy | 920 (5.2) | 1799 (4.7) | 6348 (6.9) | −0.071 | −0.094 | 0.023 |
| Serious infections | 2995 (16.9) | 4955 (13.0) | 13 354 (14.4) | 0.069 | −0.041 | 0.110 |
| COPD | 2049 (11.6) | 3747 (9.9) | 12 043 (13.0) | −0.043 | −0.097 | 0.055 |
| Asthma | 2162 (12.2) | 3692 (9.7) | 9844 (10.6) | 0.050 | −0.030 | 0.080 |
| IBD | 1001 (5.7) | 1883 (5.0) | 3749 (4.0) | 0.079 | 0.048 | 0.031 |
| Depression | 2146 (12.1) | 3436 (9.0) | 8618 (9.3) | 0.091 | −0.010 | 0.101 |
| Major knee and hip surgeries | 1253 (7.1) | 803 (2.1) | 331 (0.4) | 0.358 | 0.153 | 0.240 |
| Index drug | ||||||
| Anti-TNF-α | 11 946 (67.4) | 33 617 (88.5) | – | – | – | −0.526 |
| Non-TNF inhibitors | 4933 (27.8) | 3696 (9.7) | – | – | – | 0.477 |
| Tofacitinib | 847 (4.8) | 680 (1.8) | – | – | – | 0.169 |
| History of medication use | ||||||
| NSAID | 13 781 (77.7) | 27 977 (73.6) | 67 297 (72.7) | 0.116 | 0.020 | 0.096 |
| Cox-2 inhibitors | 4443 (25.1) | 8579 (22.6) | 17 078 (18.5) | 0.160 | 0.102 | 0.059 |
| Systemic corticosteroids | 6191 (34.9) | 10 525 (27.7) | 21 749 (23.5) | 0.253 | 0.096 | 0.156 |
| Anticoagulants | 2684 (15.1) | 4552 (12.0) | 13 334 (14.4) | 0.020 | −0.071 | 0.091 |
Data are presented as n (%), unless otherwise specified. A standardised difference with an absolute value of greater than 0.10 indicates statistical significance for groups under comparison. With absolute values greater than 0.1, bolded values for standardised dfiference in the table indicates statistical significance.
anti-TNF, anti-tumour necrosis factor; b/tsDMARD, biologic or targeted synthetic DMARD; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; csDMARD, conventional synthetic DMARD;DMARD, disease-modifying antirheumatic drug; DVT, deep vein thrombosis; IBD, inflammatory bowel disease;MI, myocardial infarction; NSAID, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug; PE, pulmonary embolism; VTE, venous thromboembolism.