Comparative effectiveness of treatment with the first TNF antagonist in monotherapy, the first TNF antagonist plus one conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug, and the first TNF antagonist plus two or more conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Table 4 Rresponse in patients with rheumatoid arthritis at 6 months and follow-up data

Treatment with synthetic DMARDs	First TNF antagonist monotherapy		First TNF antagonist plus one csDMARD		First TNF antagonist plus two or more csDMARDs		Total		Pp*
n, %	234	21	766	67	136	12	1.136	100
Baseline DAS28 score (mean ± SD)	5.9	1.0	5.7	1.1	5.7	1.0	5.8	1.1	0.2
Final DAS28 score (mean ± SD)	3.56	1.54	3.39	1.52	3.6	1.3	3.4	1.5	0.8
Difference in DAS28 score (mean ± SD)	1.6	0.7	1.6	0.7	1.7	0.6	1.6	0.7	0.4
Baseline HAQ score (mean ± SD)	1.40	0.58	1.44	0.65	1.63	0.59	1.461	0.633	0.002
Final HAQ score (mean ± SD)	0.83	0.71	0.93	0.76	1.08	0.74	0.930	0.752	0.005
Difference in HAQ score (mean ± SD)	0.60	0.69	0.51	0.75	0.60	0.70	0.545	0.734	0.1
Follow up
Completed last visit (n, %)	132	56	391	51	82	60	605	53	0.46
Loss of follow up (n, %)	102	44	375	49	54	40	531	47	0.07
Reasons
Adverse event	33	32	174	46	16	30	223	42	0.001
Inefficacy	30	29	87	23	12	22	129	24	0.5
Patient decision	7	7	15	4	3	5	25	5	0.6
Unknown	32	32	99	27	23	43	154	29	0.4

*P value for between-group comparisons. Differences between groups in baseline vs. final disease activity score in 28 joints (DAS) and health assessment questionnaire (HAQ) scores were statistically significant, p < 0.001. csDMARD conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug, DMARD disease-modifying antirheumatic drug

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