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Table 1 Socio-demographic and disease-related characteristics of JIA patients according to the time when biologic was started

From: Influence of the timing of biological treatment initiation on Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis long-term outcomes

 

Total

bDMARD started < 2 years after disease onset

bDMARD started 2–5 years after disease onset

bDMARD started > 5 years after disease onset

p-value

Patients, n (%)

361 (100)

52 (14.4)

65 (18)

244 (67.5)

 

Female, n (%)

194 (53.7)

19 (36.5)

21 (32.3)

154 (63.1)c

0.015*

JIA ILAR category, n (%)

    

0.001**

 Persistent oligoarthritis

33 (9.1)

2 (3.8)

12 (18.5)

19 (7.8)

 

 Extended oligoarthritis

58 (16.1)

7 (13.5)

8 (12.3)

43 (17.6)

 

 RF-positive polyarthritis

39 (10.8)

3 (5.8)

4 (6.2)

32 (13.1)

 

 RF-negative polyarthritis

70 (19.4)

10 (19.2)

11 (16.9)

49 (20.1)

 

 Systemic

34 (9.4)

5 (9.6)

8 (12.3)

21 (8.6)

 

 Enthesitis related arthritis

88 (24.4)

22 (42.3)

16 (24.6)

50 (20.5)

 

 Psoriatic arthritis

17 (4.7)

3 (5.8)

4 (6.2)

10 (4.1)

 

 Undifferentiated arthritis

22 (6.4)

0 (0)

3 (4.6)

19 (7.8)

 

 Age at disease onset, years, median (IQR)

11.5 (6.3–14.6)

13.3 (11.7–15.7)a

12.2 (9.8–14.7)b

9.8 (5.3–14)a,b

< 0.001*

 Age at diagnosis, years, median (IQR)

13.3 (8.2–16.8)

13.1 (10.4–16.1)

13.0 (10.6–15.7)

13.2 (6.8–18.2)

0.392

 Age when first biologic was started, years, median (IQR)

21.7 (15.8–31.9)

15.3 (13.4–16.4)a

15.8 (13–17.9)b

26.3 (19.7–36)a,b

< 0.001*

 Disease duration, years, median (IQR)

20.3 (12.1–30.2)

7.5 (3.8–11.6)a

10.8 (6.4–15.9)b

25.1 (19.3–34.1)a,b

< 0.001*

 Age at last visit, years, median (IQR)

29.1 (21.8–40.2)

20.2 (18.9–23.2)a

21.9 (19.7–25.5)b

35.5 (27–44.8)a,b

< 0.001*

 ANA + , n assessed: 225, n (%)

71 (31.5)

9 (21.4)

11 (25.6)

51 (36.4)c

0,003*

 RF + , n assessed: 267, n (%)

73 (27.3)

8 (20)

5 (11.1)

60 (33)c

0.032*

 ACPA + , n assessed: 175, n (%)

47 (26.8)

7 (22.5)

3 (10.3)

37 (32.2)

0.271

 HLAB27 + , n assessed: 183, n (%)

78 (42.6)

17 (48.6)

14 (45.2)

47 (40.2)

0.164

 Presence of uveitis, n assessed: 285, n (%)

40 (14)

2 (5)

9 (20)

29 (14.5)

0.105

 Years of education, n assessed: 203; median (IQR)

12 (9–15)

11 (9–12)

11 (9–14)

12 (9–15)c

0.24

Professional situation, n assessed: 210

    

0.193

 Employed, n (%)

159 (75.7)

18 (60)c

21 (63.6) c

120 (81.6)

 

 Unemployed, n (%)

18 (8.6)

0 (0)

1 (3)

17 (11.6)c

 

 Retired, n (%)

7 (3.3)

0 (0)

0 (0)

7 (4.8)c

 

 Retired due to JIA disability, n (%)

17 (8.1)

0 (0)

0 (0)

17 (11.6)c

 

Past treatment

 Corticosteroids, n (%)

181 (50.1)

21 (40.4)

15 (23.1)

145 (59.4)c

0.002

 cDMARDs, n (%)

280 (77.6)

34 (65.4)

38 (58.5)

208 (85.2)

0.709

Current treatment

 Corticosteroids, n assessed: 271, n (%)

88 (32.5)

4 (14.3)

3 (7.3)

81 (40.1)c

< 0,001

 cDMARDs, n assessed: 272, n (%)

159 (58.5)

13 (44.8)

15 (36.6)

129 (63.9)

0.148

 bDMARDS, n (%)

295 (81.7)

33 (63.5)

36 (55.4)

196 (80.3)

0.817

 Cumulative corticosteroid exposure, years, median (IQR)

5.9 (2.4–14.9)

1.8 (0.8–2.3)a

3.9 (1.9–8.2)

7.8 (2.9–17.1]a

< 0.001*

  1. Sample size is not constant due to missing data:
  2. Patients whose bDMARD was started < 2 years after disease onset: ANA + n = 42; RF + n = 40; ACPA + n = 31; HLAB27 + n = 35; presence of uveitis n = 40; professional situation n = 30; current corticosteroids n = 28; current cDMARDs n = 29
  3. Patients whose bDMARD was started 2–5 years after disease onset: ANA + n = 43; RF + n = 45; ACPA + n = 29; HLAB27 + n = 31; presence of uveitis n = 45; professional situation n = 33; current corticosteroids n = 41; current cDMARDs n = 41
  4. Patients whose bDMARD was started > 5 years after disease onset: ANA + n = 140; RF + n = 182; ACPA + n = 115; HLAB27 + n = 117; presence of uveitis n = 200; professional situation n = 147; current corticosteroids n = 202; current cDMARDs n = 202
  5. Legend: JIA juvenile idiopathic arthritis, IQR interquartile range, ANA antinuclear antibodies, RF rheumatoid factor, ACPA anti-citrullinated protein antibodies, DMARD disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, cDMARDs conventional DMARD, bDMARDs biological DMARDs
  6. aStatistically significant difference between “ < 2Y” and “ > 5Y” at a 5% significance level — Mann–Whitney U test adjusted for multiple comparisons
  7. bStatistically significant difference between “2–5Y” and “ > 5Y” ate a 5% significance level — Mann–Whitney U test adjusted for multiple comparisons
  8. cHigher frequency than expected (statistically significant at a 5% significance level — Fisher exact test and adjusted residual higher than 1.96)
  9. *Statistically significant difference between “ < 5Y” and “ ≥ 5Y” at a 5% significance level — Mann–Whitney U test
  10. **Fisher exact test applied using “Extended oligoarthritis,” “RF-positive polyarthritis,” and “RF-negative polyarthritis” categories of JIA grouped as one in order to perform the test with some robustness
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Arthritis Research & Therapy

ISSN: 1478-6362

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