Patient characteristics
| Parameter | Not hospitalised, no death | Hospitalised, no invasive ventilation or death | Invasive ventilation or death | Total |
| N | 1771 (77.9) | 374 (16.4) | 129 (5.7) | 2274 |
| General | ||||
| Age (years) | 55 (18) | 67 (19) | 71 (19) | 57 (19) |
| 66–75 | 226 (12.8) | 90 (24.1) | 38 (29.5) | 354 (15.6) |
| >75 | 137 (7.7) | 112 (29.9) | 47 (36.4) | 296 (13) |
| Male sex | 546 (30.8) | 130 (34.8) | 67 (51.9) | 743 (32.7) |
| Ever smoker | 115 (96.6) n=119 Missing=1652 | 21 (100) n=21 Missing=353 | 9 (100) n=9 Missing=120 | 145 (97.3) n=149 Missing=2125 |
| IJDs | ||||
| Rheumatoid arthritis | 781 (44.1) | 193 (51.6) | 76 (58.9) | 1050 (46.2) |
| Spondyloarthritis | 251 (14.2) | 28 (7.5) | 6 (4.7) | 285 (12.5) |
| Psoriatic arthritis | 287 (16.2) | 19 (5.1) | 9 (7) | 315 (13.9) |
| JIA (poly, oligo, not systemic) | 6 (0.3) | 0 | 0 | 6 (0.3) |
| All IJDs | 1313 (74.1) | 238 (63.6) | 90 (69.8) | 1641 (72.2) |
| CTDs/vasculitis | ||||
| SLE | 91 (5.1) | 12 (3.2) | 2 (1.6) | 105 (4.6) |
| CTDs (other than SLE) | 134 (7.6) | 29 (7.8) | 13 (10.1) | 176 (7.7) |
| Vasculitides | 145 (8.2) | 81 (21.7) | 29 (22.5) | 255 (11.2) |
| All CTD/vasculitides | 364 (20.6) | 121 (32.4) | 43 (33.3) | 528 (23.2) |
| Other RMDs | ||||
| Total | 151 (8.5) | 32 (8.6) | 11 (8.5) | 194 (8.5) |
| Disease activity | n=1751 Missing=20 | n=355 Missing=19 | n=109 Missing=20 | n=2215 Missing=59 |
| Remission | 939 (53.6) | 165 (46.5) | 37 (33.9) | 1141 (51.5) |
| Minimal/low disease activity | 603 (34.4) | 112 (31.5) | 44 (40.4) | 759 (34.3) |
| Moderate disease activity | 169 (9.7) | 57 (16.1) | 12 (11) | 238 (10.7) |
| Severe/high disease activity | 40 (2.3) | 21 (5.9) | 16 (14.7) | 77 (3.5) |
| Comorbidities | ||||
| Hypertension | 524 (29.6) | 186 (49.7) | 83 (64.3) | 793 (34.9) |
| Cardiovascular disease | 121 (6.8) | 97 (25.9) | 51 (39.5) | 269 (11.8) |
| Chronic lung disease | 168 (9.5) | 72 (19.3) | 43 (33.3) | 283 (12.4) |
| Chronic kidney disease | 64 (3.6) | 71 (19) | 35 (27.1) | 170 (7.5) |
| Obesity (BMI ≥30) | 355 (20) | 87 (23.3) | 31 (24) | 473 (20.8) |
| Diabetes | 137 (7.7) | 67 (17.9) | 31 (24) | 235 (10.3) |
| Cancer | 50 (2.8) | 25 (6.7) | 10 (7.8) | 85 (3.7) |
| Number of comorbidities | 0 (1) | 1.5 (2) | 2 (3) | 1 (2) |
| No comorbidity | 896 (50.6) | 74 (19.8) | 15 (11.6) | 985 (43.3) |
| ≥3 comorbidities | 135 (7.6) | 94 (25.1) | 53 (41.1) | 282 (12.4) |
| DMARD therapies | ||||
| csDMARDs | 639 (36.1) | 125 (33.4) | 37 (28.7) | 801 (35.2) |
| Methotrexate (monotherapy) | 381 (21.5) | 84 (22.5) | 22 (17.1) | 487 (21.4) |
| Leflunomide | 76 (4.3) | 15 (4) | 9 (7) | 100 (4.4) |
| Sulfasalazine | 51 (2.9) | 12 (3.2) | 4 (3.1) | 67 (2.9) |
| Antimalarial | 131 (7.4) | 14 (3.7) | 2 (1.6) | 147 (6.5) |
| Immunosuppressants | 60 (3.4) | 36 (9.6) | 8 (6.2) | 104 (4.6) |
| bDMARDs | 653 (36.9) | 102 (27.3) | 41 (31.8) | 796 (35) |
| TNF inhibitors | 439 (24.8) | 43 (11.5) | 6 (4.7) | 488 (21.5) |
| Abatacept | 21 (1.2) | 8 (2.1) | 1 (0.8) | 30 (1.3) |
| B cell-targeted bDMARDs | 46 (2.6) | 29 (7.8) | 27 (20.9) | 102 (4.5) |
| Rituximab | 37 (2.1) | 28 (7.5) | 26 (20.2) | 91 (4) |
| Belimumab | 9 (0.5) | 1 (0.3) | 1 (0.8) | 11 (0.5) |
| IL-6 inhibitors | 47 (2.7) | 9 (2.4) | 3 (2.3) | 59 (2.6) |
| IL-1 inhibitors | 21 (1.2) | 3 (0.8) | 3 (2.3) | 27 (1.2) |
| IL-17, IL-23, IL-12/23 inhibitors | 79 (4.5) | 10 (2.7) | 1 (0.8) | 90 (4) |
| tsDMARDs | 108 (6.1) | 33 (8.8) | 14 (10.9) | 155 (6.8) |
| JAK inhibitors | 101 (5.7) | 32 (8.6) | 14 (10.9) | 147 (6.5) |
| Apremilast | 7 (0.4) | 1 (0.3) | 0 | 8 (0.4) |
| No DMARD therapies | 311 (17.6) | 79 (21.1) | 29 (22.5) | 419 (18.4) |
| Further therapies | ||||
| Glucocorticoids (#) | 485 (27.5) n=1759 Missing=12 | 198 (52.9) n=373 Missing=1 | 78 (60.5) n=129 Missing=0 | 761 (33.6) n=2261 Missing=13 |
| 0 mg/day<glucocorticoids ≤10 mg/day | 453 (25.8) | 179 (48) | 60 (46.5) | 692 (30.6) |
| Glucocorticoids>10 mg/day | 24 (1.4) | 18 (4.8) | 18 (14) | 60 (2.7) |
| NSAIDs | 395 (22.9) (n=1736 Missing=47 | 59 (16.3) (n=120 Missing=2 | 12 (9.9) n=83 Missing=0 | 466 (21.1) n=2208 Missing=66 |
Data are N (column %) for categorical variables or mean (SD) for continuous variables. Table includes all patients with a non-missing outcome and non-missing values for age, sex and DMARDs (four patients excluded). Data refer to patients with non-missing values for the respective variable; total N for patients with non-missing values is given in parentheses for variables with missing values; the total number of missing values is also given in parentheses, for the applicable variables. # denotes patients with a missing glucocorticoid dosage. For csDMARD therapies and immunosuppressants, only patients not simultaneously receiving a bDMARD/tsDMARD are included. For csDMARDs, patients are included who correspond to the specific therapy when applying the hierarchy described in the Methods section.
bDMARD, biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drug; BMI, body mass index; csDMARD, conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug; CTD, connective tissue disease; DMARD, disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug; IJD, inflammatory joint disease; IL, interleukin; JAK, Janus kinase; JIA, juvenile idiopathic arthritis; N, number; NSAID, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug; RMDs, rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases; SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus; TNF, tumour necrosis factor; tsDMARD, targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug.