Clinical and functional remission: even though biologics are superior to conventional DMARDs overall success rates remain low – results from RABBIT, the German biologics register

Table 4 Matched pairs analysis: patients' characteristics and rates of remission at 12 months.

	BIOL	CON	p value^a
N	193	193
Characteristics at baseline
Age	54.7 (12.1)	55.9 (10.3)	0.50
Female (%)	83.4	79.8	0.43
Rheumatoid factor positive (%)	82.4	79.8	0.60
Swollen joint count	8.7 (6.1)	8.8 (5.5)	0.59
Tender joint count	11.3 (7.3)	11.4 (6.8)	0.61
ESR (mm/h), median (IQR)	22 (13–40)	24 (15–40)	0.37
CRP (mg/L), median (IQR)	14 (6–28)	12 (5–29)	0.19
DAS28	6.1 (1.1)	6.1 (1.1)	0.54
FFbH	59.3 (21.1)	58.9 (22.6)	0.92
No. previous DMARDs	3.1 (1.1)	3.0 (1.0)	0.74
Propensity score	0.63 (0.19)	0.63 (0.19)	-
Remission at 12 months, n (%)
DAS28 Remission	48 (24.9%)	24 (12.4%)	0.004
Remission according to modified ARA criteria	31 (16.1%)	16 (8.3%)	0.036

In this analysis pairs of BIOL and CON patients who differed by less than 0.05 on the propensity score scale were included. Values are means and standard deviations if not otherwise specified. ^aMann-Whitney test and chi-square test were applied as appropriate for the comparision of the baseline characteristics and McNemar test for the comparison of the remission rates. ARA, American Rheumatology Association; BIOL, patients treated with biologics; CON, patients receiving conventional DMARD treatment (control group); CRP, C-reactive protein; DAS28, disease activity score based on 28 joint counts; DMARD, disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; FFbH, Funktionsfragebogen Hannover (Hannover Functional Status Questionnaire); IQR, inter quartile range.

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