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Table 1 Clinical characteristics of elderly-onset RA at initiation of TNFi or IL-6i

From: Comparison of the drug retention and reasons for discontinuation of tumor necrosis factor inhibitors and interleukin-6 inhibitors in Japanese patients with elderly-onset rheumatoid arthritis—the ANSWER cohort study

Characteristic

TNFi

(n = 674)

IL-6i

(n = 297)

P value

Age, median years (IQR)

71 (67–77)

72 (67–77)

0.34

Female sex, n (%)

513 (76.1)

221 (74.4)

0.57

Disease duration, median months (IQR)

32 (12–77)

39 (16–79)

0.12

CRP (mg/dL), median (IQR)

1.0 (0.20–3.1)

1.74 (0.30–4.5)

0.02

RF-positive, n (%)

452 (72.6)

200 (73.5)

0.81

ACPA-positive, n (%)

396 (73.1)

172 (74.8)

0.66

Tender joint count, median (IQR)

3 (1–6)

2 (1–5)

0.47

Swollen joint count, median (IQR)

3 (1–6)

2 (1–4)

0.36

PtGA VAS (0–100 mm), median (IQR)

54 (30–74)

54 (30–74)

0.82

PGA VAS (0–100 mm), median (IQR)

34 (19–55)

35 (19–54)

0.99

DAS28-ESR, median (IQR)

4.6 (3.7–5.5)

4.6 (3.6–5.5)

0.66

SDAI, median (IQR)

17 (11–25)

16 (10–25)

0.75

CDAI, median (IQR)

16 (10–23)

14 (10–22)

0.29

HAQ-DI, median (IQR)

1.0 (0.38–1.75)

1.0 (0.38–1.88)

0.65

Concurrent methotrexate use, n (%)

417 (61.9)

140 (47.1)

< 0.001

Methotrexate dosage (mg/week), median (IQR)

8 (6–10)

8 (6–10)

0.99

Glucocorticoid use, n (%)

259 (38.4)

141 (47.4)

0.009

Glucocorticoid dosage (mg/day), median (IQR)

5.0 (3.0–7.0)

5.0 (4.0–8.0)

0.52

Sulfasalazine use, n (%)

152 (22.6)

70 (23.6)

0.74

Other csDMARDs use, n (%)

110 (16.4)

73 (24.8)

0.003

1st bDMARD (%)

430 (63.8)

127 (42.8)

< 0.001

2nd bDMARD (%)

164 (24.3)

88 (29.6)

0.12

≥3rd bDMARD (%)

80 (11.9)

82 (27.6)

< 0.001

  1. Data are no. (%) patients or median IQR
  2. Demographic and clinical characteristics at initiation of TNFi or IL-6i summarized as median for continuous data and as numbers (percentages) for categorical data. T test or Wilcoxon signed-rank test and the chi-squared test were used to compare the clinical characteristics between the 2 groups for continuous variables and categorical variables, respectively. ACPA anti-citrullinated protein antibodies, bDMARDs biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, csDMARDs conventional synthetic DMARDs, CDAI clinical disease activity index, CRP C-reactive protein, DAS28-ESR Disease Activity Score 28-erythrocyte sedimentation rate, EORA elderly-onset rheumatoid arthritis, IL-6i interleukin-6 inhibitors, HAQ-DI Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index, PtGA patient global assessment, PGA physician global assessment, RF rheumatoid factor, SDAI simplified disease activity index, TNFi tumor necrosis factor inhibitors, YORA young-onset rheumatoid arthritis, VAS visual analogue scale