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Table 1 Baseline characteristics of patients initiating golimumab or infliximab and characteristics of their prescribing clinicians

From: Will savings from biosimilars offset increased costs related to dose escalation? A comparison of infliximab and golimumab for rheumatoid arthritis

 

Golimumab (N = 2843)

Infliximab (n = 5174)

SMD

Physician-specific factors

 Female sex

679 (23.9%)

1368 (26.4%)

0.06

 Age in years, mean (STD)

52.74 (9.43)

51.40 (9.29)

0.14

 Years in practice

20.75 (10.86)

18.68 (10.81)

0.19

 Ownership of infusion center

2528 (88.9%)

4162 (80.4%)

0.24

 Office-based practice**

2230 (78.4%)

3906 (75.5%)

0.07

Type of employment

 Federal government

108 (3.8%)

185 (3.6%)

0.01

 Group practice

1298 (45.7%)

2237 (43.2%)

0.05

 Local government

180 (6.3%)

409 (7.9%)

0.06

 Medical school

79 (2.8%)

110 (2.1%)

0.04

 Other

567 (19.9%)

1187 (22.9%)

0.07

 Solo practice

611 (21.5%)

1046 (20.2%)

0.03

Patient-specific factors

 Demographics

  Age in years, mean (STD)

70.01 (8.90)

68.66 (9.47)

0.15

  Female

2287 (80.4%)

3988 (77.1%)

0.08

  White

2349 (82.6%)

4233 (81.8%)

0.02

  Dual eligible for Medicare and Medicaid

348 (12.2%)

886 (17.1%)

0.14

  Disability according to Medicare as original reason for Medicare eligibility

1004 (35.3%)

1676 (32.4%)

0.06

 Comorbidity diagnoses, %

  Myocardial infarction

137 (4.8%)

226 (4.4%)

0.02

  Coronary heart disease

554 (19.5%)

977 (18.9%)

0.02

  Peripheral vascular disease

217 (7.6%)

389 (7.5%)

0.00

  Chronic pulmonary disease

771 (27.1%)

1359 (26.3%)

0.02

  Peptic ulcer disease

52 (1.8%)

86 (1.7%)

0.01

  Diabetes

658 (23.1%)

1168 (22.6%)

0.01

  Renal disease

287 (10.1%)

462 (8.9%)

0.04

  Malignancy

195 (6.9%)

331 (6.4%)

0.02

  Fibromyalgia

591 (20.8%)

978 (18.9%)

0.05

 RA and other medications, %

  Methotrexate

1642 (57.8%)

3595 (69.5%)

0.25

  Other conventional DMARDS

1085 (38.2%)

2386 (46.1%)

0.16

  Oral glucocorticoids

2039 (71.7%)

3914 (75.6%)

0.09

  NSAIDs

1299 (45.7%)

2453 (47.4%)

0.03

  Opioid

2030 (71.4%)

3585 (69.3%)

0.05

  Statin

1315 (46.3%)

2219 (42.9%)

0.07

  Other lipid lowering drug

257 (9.0%)

418 (8.1%)

0.03

  Anti-hypertensive drug

2202 (77.5%)

3822 (73.9%)

0.08

  Anti-depressant drug use

1283 (45.1%)

2181 (42.2%)

0.06

 Healthcare utilization

  Number of physician visits, Mean (STD)

17.89 (9.35)

16.96 (9.17)

0.10

  Any hospitalization

604 (21.2%)

1027 (19.8%)

0.03

  Colon cancer screening

442 (15.5%)

931 (18.0%)

0.07

  Breast cancer screening

1197 (42.1%)

2097 (40.5%)

0.03

  1. SMD standardized mean difference. A SMD > 0.10 (italicized) is indicative of a potentially important difference
  2. Data shown as mean (standard deviation) or n (%)
  3. *Two consecutive infusions with a dose increase, or frequency increase, were required to satisfy this definition
  4. **Rather than hospital-based practice, research, or other/missing designations