Characteristics of the study population
| Patients with a follow up of at least 6 months (n=773) | Patients with available data to evaluate a EULAR response (n=558) | Patients without available data to evaluate EULAR response (n=215) | p Value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years), median (IQR) | 58.0 (49.0–68.0) (0.4%) | 58.0 (49.0–67.0) (0.4%) | 58.0 (49.0–70.0) (0.5%) | 0.4 |
| Female (%) | 78.7 (0.3%) | 79.7 (0.4%) | 76.3 (0.0%) | 0.3 |
| Disease duration (years), median (IQR) | 14.0 (8.0–21.0) (1.7%) | 14.0 (9.0–20.0) (1.3%) | 14.0 (7.0–22.0) (2.8%) | 0.9 |
| RF-positivity (%) | 72.5 (11.6%) | 72.0 (8.6%) | 74.0 (19.5%) | 0.6 |
| Anti-CCP positivity (%) | 70.2 (20.1%) | 70.2 (16.3%) | 70.2 (29.8%) | 0.9 |
| Number of previous synthetic DMARDs, median (IQR) | 3.0 (2.0–4.0) (7.2%) | 3.0 (2.0–4.0) (5.5%) | 2.5 (1.0–4.0) (11.6%) | 0.0006 |
| % of 0/1/2/3 previous anti-TNF | ||||
| None | 11.4 | 11.1 | 12.2 | 0.6 |
| 1 | 21.6 | 21.7 | 21.5 | |
| 2 | 37.7 | 37.3 | 38.3 | |
| 3 | 29.3 (0.1%) | 29.9 (0.0%) | 28.0 (0.5%) | |
| % of patients previously treated with RTX | 30.1 (0.1%) | 30.6 (0.0%) | 28.5 (0.5%) | 0.6 |
| Concomitant treatment with corticosteroids* (%) | 75.8 (1.8%) | 75.5 (1.1%) | 76.3 (3.7%) | 0.8 |
| Median dosage (mg/d) | 8.0 (2.0–10.0) (3.5%) | 8.0 (2.0–10.0) (2.1%) | 8.0 (2.3–10.0) (7.0%) | 0.8 |
| Concomitant treatment with a synthetic DMARD* (%) | 64.8 (1.4%) | 65.9 (1.1%) | 61.9 (2.3%) | 0.7 |
| Methotrexate** | 76.3 | 76.6 | 75.4 | |
| Leflunomide** | 14.6 | 14.0 | 16.2 | |
| Combination/others** | 9.1 | 9.4 | 8.4 | |
| DAS28 vs ESR at initiation of ABA, median (IQR) | 5.4 (4.5–6.3) (15.9%) | 5.4 (4.4–6.3) (0%) | 5.4 (4.7–6.0) (57.2%) | 0.9 |
Results are median (IQR) or %. Proportions of missing values are in brackets ().
↵** Proportion of treated patients among those treated with a synthetic DMARD
↵* Defined as the day of ABA first infusion.
ABA, abatacept; anti-CCP, anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide; DAS28, 28-joint disease activity score; DMARD, disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; EULAR, European League Against Rheumatism; RF, rheumatoid factor; RTX, rituximab; TNF, tumour necrosis factor.