Details of treatment outcome with the first anti-TNF agent
| Treatment outcome | Total cohort | Concomitant DMARD treatment at baseline | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| None | MTX | SSZ | LEF | MTX+SSZ | MTX+HCQ | MTX+SSZ+HCQ | |||
| Number of patients | 10 396 | 3339 | 4418 | 308 | 610 | 902 | 401 | 418 | |
| Follow-up (person-years) Median (IQR)/max | 2.0 (0.7–4.0)/8.1 | 1.8 (0.6–4.0)/7.7 | 2.1 (0.8–4.0)/7.7 | 1.8 (0.7–3.6)/5.5 | 1.6 (0.6–3.1)/8.1 | 2.6 (1.2–4.0)/7.1 | 2.2 (1.1–3.9)/7.5 | 2.0 (0.8–3.8)/7.5 | |
| Still receiving treatment at last follow-up, n (%) | 5157 (50) | 1475 (44) | 2165(49) | 163 (53) | 272 (45) | 579 (64) | 247 (62) | 256 (61) | |
| Stopped owing to inefficacy, n (%) | 2240 (22) | 763 (23) | 959 (22) | 70 (23) | 160 (26) | 148 (16) | 71 (18) | 69 (17) | |
| Stopped owing to adverse event, n (%) | 2153 (21) | 833 (25) | 895 (20) | 55 (18) | 135 (22) | 108 (12) | 62 (15) | 65 (16) | |
| Kaplan–Meier estimates (95%CI) of still receiving drug at year 5 | Stopped for any reason | 0.42 (0.41 to 0.43) | 0.38 (0.36 to 0.40) | 0.42 (0.40 to 0.44) | 0.46 (0.39 to 0.53) | 0.36 (0.31 to 0.41) | 0.55 (0.51 to 0.59) | 0.51 (0.45 to 0.58) | 0.53 (0.46 to 0.59) |
| Stopped owing to inefficacy | 0.69 (0.68 to 0.70) | 0.67 (0.64 to 0.69) | 0.69 (0.67 to 0.71) | 0.70 (0.62 to 0.76) | 0.62 (0.56 to 0.67) | 0.77 (0.74 to 0.81) | 0.74 (0.67 to 0.79) | 0.75 (0.67 to 0.81) | |
| Stopped owing to adverse event | 0.71 (0.70 to 0.73) | 0.67 (0.65 to 0.69) | 0.72 (0.70 to 0.73) | 0.74 (0.67 to 0.80) | 0.69 (0.63 to 0.74) | 0.82 (0.78 to 0.85) | 0.77 (0.70 to 0.83) | 0.79 (0.73 to 0.84) | |
DMARDs, disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs; HCQ, hydroxychloroquine; LEF, leflunomide; MTX, methotrexate; SSZ, sulfasalazine; TNF, tumour necrosis factor.