Head-to-head comparison of the safety of tocilizumab and tumor necrosis factor inhibitors in rheumatoid arthritis patients (RA) in clinical practice: results from the registry of Japanese RA patients on biologics for long-term safety (REAL) registry

Table 1 Demographic and clinical characteristics of RA patients treated with TCZ or TNFIs

Characteristics	TCZ group (number = 302)	TNFI group (number = 304)	P value
Age, years	59.20 ± 13.04	57.33 ± 15.18	0.275
Female, %	82.5	82.8	0.425
Disease duration, years	10.20 ± 8.64	7.96 ± 8.70	<0.001
Steinbrocker’s stage^a	51.0	35.2	<0.001
(III or IV), %	51.0	35.2	<0.001
Steinbrocker’s class^a	29.1	19.4	0.005
(3 or 4), %	29.1	19.4	0.005
Previous biologic use, %	70.5	10.5	<0.001
Number of previous non-biological DMARDs ≥3, %	47.0	38.5	0.034
DAS28CRP (3)^b	4.50 ± 1.23 (n = 233)	4.25 ± 1.24 (n = 279)	0.019
Pulmonary diseases^c, %	20.2	15.5	0.128
Diabetes mellitus, %	10.9	10.5	0.873
Liver diseases^d, %	6.6	4.6	0.281
Kidney diseases^e, %	3.6	0.7	0.011
MTX use, %	53.0	85.5	<0.001
MTX dose, mg/week	8.41 ± 2.80	8.54 ± 2.28	0.237
Oral corticosteroids use, %	65.6	51.0	<0.001
PSL-equivalent dose^f, mg/day	5.32 ± 3.19	4.99 ± 3.05	0.433

^aSteinbrocker’s classification was used to define RA disease stages and classes; ^bDAS28CRP (3) was calculated based on three variables: swollen and tender 28-joint counts and CRP; ^cpulmonary diseases included interstitial lung disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and asthma; ^dliver diseases included hepatitis B carrier, hepatitis C carrier, fatty liver, hepatitis, primary biliary cirrhosis, positive anti-hepatitis C antibody, cholelithiasis, and abnormal liver function tests; ^ekidney diseases included nephrotic syndrome, nephritis, renal failure, chronic kidney disease, renal hypertension, hemi-kidney, and elevation of serum creatinine; ^fthe oral corticosteroids dose was converted to the equivalent prednisolone dosage. CRP; C-reactive protein; DAS28, disease activity score including 28-joint count; DMARDs, disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs; MTX, methotrexate; PSL, prednisolone; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; TCZ, tocilizumab; TNFIs, tumor necrosis factor inhibitors.

ISSN: 1478-6362