Baseline characteristics of each treatment cohort (etanercept vs other TNFi) by country: patients with RA
| Denmark | Finland | Iceland | Norway | Sweden | ||||||
| Treatment cohorts | Etanercept | oTNFi | Etanercept | oTNFi | Etanercept | oTNFi | Etanercept | oTNFi | Etanercept | oTNFi |
| Episodes, n | 4968 | 9037 | 1923 | 3226 | 409 | 773 | 598 | 1168 | 13 067 | 17 535 |
| Patients*, n | 4486 | 6674 | 1411 | 2330 | 241 | 482 | 456 | 907 | 8274 | 11 523 |
| TNFi | ||||||||||
| Adalimumab | 0 | 3411 | 0 | 1640 | 0 | 265 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 6913 |
| Certolizumab pegol | 0 | 1485 | 0 | 342 | 0 | <5 | 0 | 519 | 0 | 2019 |
| Infliximab | 0 | 3715 | 0 | 789 | 0 | 414 | 0 | 287 | 0 | 6805 |
| Golimumab | 0 | 426 | 0 | 455 | 0 | 92 | 0 | 162 | 0 | 1798 |
| Female (%) | 3777 (76) | 6806 (75) | 1459 (76) | 2404 (75) | 309 (76) | 573 (74) | 454 (76) | 877 (75) | 10 163 (78) | 13 418 (77) |
| Age at TNFi start | 57 (48–66) | 57 (47–65) | 54 (43–62) | 54 (44–61) | 52 (41–62) | 52 (42–61) | 55 (42–63) | 55 (44–64) | 58 (46–66) | 58 (47–66) |
| Disease duration (years) | ||||||||||
| <1 | 138 (3) | 346 (4) | 69 (4) | 119 (4) | 58 (17) | 97 (15) | 67 (14) | 114 (12) | 703 (5) | 1044 (6) |
| 1–5 | 1561 (33) | 2902 (33) | 487 (26) | 780 (25) | 145 (42) | 267 (40) | 158 (32) | 266 (29) | 3710 (29) | 4758 (28) |
| >5 | 3097 (65) | 5468 (63) | 1343 (71) | 2254 (71) | 146 (42) | 299 (45) | 269 (54) | 537 (59) | 8472 (66) | 11 421 (66) |
| Number previous b/tsDMARDs | ||||||||||
| 0 | 2436 (49) | 6094 (67) | 1280 (67) | 2149 (67) | 233 (57) | 476 (62) | 336 (56) | 629 (54) | 7717 (59) | 10 848 (62) |
| 1 | 1827 (37) | 1913 (21) | 539 (28) | 686 (21) | 138 (34) | 169 (22) | 185 (31) | 324 (28) | 3592 (27) | 4159 (24) |
| 2 | 498 (10) | 683 (8) | 89 (5) | 292 (9) | 29 (7) | 88 (11) | 59 (10) | 130 (11) | 1162 (9) | 1604 (9) |
| 3 | 144 (3) | 241 (3) | 14 (1) | 69 (2) | 6 (1) | 27 (3) | 15 (3) | 61 (5) | 419 (3) | 626 (4) |
| 4 | 63 (1) | 106 (1) | 1 (0) | 30 (1) | 3 (1) | 13 (2) | 3 (1) | 24 (2) | 177 (1) | 298 (2) |
| Clinical measurements | ||||||||||
| CRP | 10.0 (4.0–25.0) | 10.0 (4.0–25.0) | 10.0 (5.0–26.0) | 10.0 (5.0–29.0) | 5.0 (3.0–17.0) | 7.0 (3.0–17.0) | 5.0 (2.0–13.0) | 5.0 (2.0–13.0) | 9.0 (4.0–24.0) | 10.0 (4.0–27.0) |
| SJC | 4 (1–7) | 4 (2–8) | 3 (1–7) | 3 (1–7) | 5 (2–8) | 5 (2–10) | 3 (1–6) | 3 (1–6) | 5 (2–9) | 6 (3–10) |
| TJC | 6 (3–12) | 7 (3–12) | 4 (1–7) | 3 (1–7) | 6 (2–10) | 6 (3–11) | 4 (1–8) | 4 (1–9) | 6 (2–10) | 6 (3–10) |
| PGH | 33 (20–50) | 35 (20–51) | 50 (26–69) | 52 (29–70) | 70 (50–84) | 69 (50–82) | 49 (26–70) | 50 (28–70) | 59 (39–75) | 60 (40–75) |
| HAQ† | 1.3 (0.8–1.8) | 1.3 (0.8–1.8) | 1.0 (0.5–1.5) | 1.0 (0.5–1.5) | 1.1 (0.8–1.5) | 1.1 (0.8–1.6) | 0.6 (0.3–1.0) | 0.6 (0.3–1.0) | 1.1 (0.6–1.5) | 1.1 (0.8–1.6) |
| Pain VAS | 62 (40–77) | 60 (39–75) | 50 (27–70) | 53 (29–72) | 65 (42–80) | 67 (45–80) | 47 (21–70) | 42 (22–65) | 60 (38–75) | 60 (39–75) |
| DAS28 | 4.7 (3.7–5.6) | 4.7 (3.7–5.6) | 4.4 (3.4–5.4) | 4.3 (3.2–5.3) | 4.5 (3.6–5.2) | 4.7 (3.8–5.6) | 3.9 (3.0–4.8) | 4.0 (3.0–4.8) | 4.6 (3.7–5.4) | 4.7 (3.8–5.5) |
| Concomitant methotrexate | 2978 (60) | 6339 (70) | 708 (53) | 1368 (61) | 180 (44) | 350 (45) | 370 (62) | 753 (64) | 8198 (63) | 12 373 (71) |
| Comorbidities | ||||||||||
| IBD | 68 (1) | 200 (2) | 9 (0) | 67 (2) | 1 (0) | 3 (0) | 2 (0) | 22 (2) | 108 (1) | 313 (2) |
| Diabetes | 152 (3) | 212 (2) | 27 (1) | 40 (1) | 4 (1) | 8 (1) | 18 (3) | 28 (2) | 397 (3) | 492 (3) |
| Thyroidea | 279 (6) | 447 (5) | 47 (2) | 73 (2) | 6 (1) | 4 (1) | 24 (4) | 39 (3) | 622 (5) | 742 (4) |
| Smoking | ||||||||||
| Current | 390 (8) | 600 (7) | 38 (2) | 69 (2) | 47 (11) | 95 (12) | 99 (17) | 184 (16) | 747 (6) | 964 (5) |
| Former | 420 (9) | 603 (7) | 9 (0) | 14 (0) | 102 (25) | 180 (23) | 206 (34) | 352 (30) | 2537 (19) | 3039 (17) |
| Never | 754 (15) | 981 (11) | 193 (10) | 270 (8) | 163 (40) | 267 (35) | 180 (30) | 344 (29) | 2294 (18) | 2833 (16) |
| Missing | 3404 (69) | 6853 (76) | 1683 (88) | 2873 (89) | 97 (24) | 231 (30) | 113 (19) | 288 (25) | 7489 (57) | 10 699 (61) |
Median (quartiles) for continuous variables and number (percentages) for binary variables are displayed. If not otherwise specified, the statistics pertain to treatment episodes. All variables are measured at treatment start.
*Patients were allowed starting a treatment with the same molecule several times.
†mHAQ in Norway.
b/tsDMARD, biologic or targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug; CRP, C reactive protein (mg/L); DAS28, Disease Activity Score based on 28 joint count and CRP; HAQ, Health Assessment Questionnaire; IBD, inflammatory bowel disease; mHAQ, modified Health Assessment Questionnaire; oTNFi, other tumour necrosis factor inhibitors (adalimumab, certolizumab pegol, infliximab, golimumab); PGH, patient’s global health assessment; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; SJC, 28 swollen joint count; TJC, 28 tender joint count; TNFi, tumour necrosis factor inhibitor; VAS, 0–100 Visual Analogue Scale.