Fig. 1

Groups of patients for retention rate calculations. Patients of the ORA registry were assigned retrospectively to two main groups. a Patients treated with ABA initiated as a monotherapy. In a first analysis, we considered patients for whom ABA was maintained as a monotherapy (MonoABA). In a second analysis, we considered all patients of this group regardless of whether a csDMARD was secondarily added (StartMONO). b Patients treated with ABA initiated in combination with a csDMARD. In a first analysis, we considered patients for whom ABA was maintained as a combination therapy with a csDMARD (CombiABA). In a second analysis, we considered all patients of this group regardless of whether the csDMARD was secondarily withdrawn (StartCOMBI). ABA abatacept, csDMARD conventional synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug, M0 month 0, M6 month 6, ORA Orencia and Rheumatoid Arthritis