Rheumatoid arthritis patients on persistent moderate disease activity on biologics have adverse 5-year outcome compared to persistent low-remission status and represent a heterogeneous group

Table 3 Multivariable mixed-effect regression associated subgroup phMDA with worse 5-year functionality (HAQ) trajectory than plMDA subgroup

HAQ multivariable analysis^†	Coefficient^‡	95% CI	p value
Group phMDA (vs plMDA)	+ 0.26	+ 0.17 to + 0.36	p < 0.0001*
Gender female (vs male)	+ 0.12	+ 0.01 to + 0.24	p = 0.04*
Age (per year)	+ 0.009	+ 0.005 to + 0.013	p < 0.0001*
Disease duration (per year)	+ 0.002	− 0.004 to + 0.007	p = 0.543
Time 3–9 months (vs baseline)	− 0.200	− 0.287 to − 0.114	p < 0.0001*
Time 9–15 months (vs baseline)	− 0.285	− 0.373 to − 0.196	p < 0.0001*
Time 15–21 months (vs baseline)	− 0.291	− 0.378 to − 0.204	p < 0.0001*
Time 21–27 months (vs baseline)	− 0.279	− 0.369 to − 0.190	p < 0.0001*
Time 27–33 months (vs baseline)	− 0.342	− 0.444 to − 0.240	p < 0.0001*
Time 33–42 months (vs baseline)	− 0.308	− 0.392 to − 0.225	p < 0.0001*
Time 42–54 months (vs baseline)	− 0.313	− 0.396 to − 0.231	p < 0.0001*
Time 54–60 months (vs baseline)	− 0.380	− 0.463 to − 0.297	p < 0.0001*

*Variable is associated significantly with patients’ 5-year functionality (HAQ) course (p < 0.05 significance threshold)
^‡Regression coefficient that represents increase (+) or decrease (−) in 5-year functionality (HAQ) course associated with the variable (category membership for categorical variable or unit increase for continuous variable)
^†Efficiency of multivariable analysis: RMSE (Root mean square error) = 0.366, R² (R-squared) = 0.538
plMDA persistent lower-moderate disease activity group; phMDA persistent higher-moderate disease activity group

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