Characteristics at time of inclusion | Controls | All RA patients | DMARD-naïve patients | TNFi-naïve patients | TNFi ongoing | Baseline TNFi introduction |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(N = 31) | (N = 96) | (N = 18) | (N = 58) | (N = 21) | (N = 21) | |
Monoclonal antibodies/soluble receptors (n) | – | – | – | – | 12/9 | 10/11 |
Females (%) | 68 | 71 | 78 | 71 | 76 | 75 |
Age, yr (mean ± SD) | 51 ± 16 | 59 ± 13 | 59 ± 16 | 58 ± 14 | 59 ± 11 | 59 ± 11 |
RA duration, yr (median (IQR)) | – | 10 (4 to 21) | 4 (3 to 19) | 8 (3 to 22) | 9 (5 to 16) | 7 (2 to 28) |
RF positivity (%) | – | 76 | 76 | 68 | 80 | 81 |
ACPA positivity (%) | – | 76 | 76 | 71 | 74 | 71 |
RF- and ACPA-negative (%) | 21 | 22 | 21 | 19 | 19 | |
Radiographic erosions (%) | – | 73 | 65 | 67 | 81 | 71 |
Ongoing synthetic DMARD (%) | – | 69 | 0 | 46 | 71 | 77 |
Previous TNFi (%) | – | 36 | 0 | 0 | 86 | 0 |
Previous use of other biologic drugs (n) | – | 40 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 0 |
Use of steroids (<10 mg/day) (%) | 0 | 60.4 | 50.0 | 53.3 | 66.6 | 54.5 |
Current steroid dose (mg/day) | 0 | 5 (0 to 9) | 2.5 (0 to 7.8) | 2.5 (0 to 7.6) | 5.5 (0 to 8.6) | 5 (0 to 9.2) |
C-reactive protein level (mg/dl) | – | 1.1 (0.4 to 2.4) | 0.8 (0.3 to 2.8) | 0.9 (0.4 to 1.9) | 1.9 (0.8 to 2.8) | 1.4 (0.4 to 2.6) |
DAS28 score (median (IQR)) | – | 4.2 (3.4 to 5.5) | 4.2 (3.4 to 5.0) | 3.9 (3.3 to 4.7) | 5.7 (5.1 to 6.4) | 4.5 (2.8 to 5.0) |