Table 2 Outcomes at the last follow-up according to the time when bDMARD was started

Disease activity (n assessed: 225)

 Active (N/%)

91 (40.4)

5 (5.5)

8 (8.8)

78 (85.7)^c

< 0.001*

 Remission on medication (N/%)

79 (35.1)^c

10 (12.6)

12 (15.1)

57 (72.1)

0.156

 Remission off medication (N/%)

54 (24)^c

8 (14.8)^c

14 (25.9)

32 (59.2)

< 0.001*

JADI-A (n assessed: 158; median (IQR))

1 (0–14.5)

0 (0–1)^a

0 (0–1)^b

3 (0–28)^a,b

0.002*

JADI-E (n assessed: 158; median (IQR))

0 (0–1)

0 (0–0)^a

0 (0–0)

0 (0–2)^a

0.013*

HAQ (n assessed: 283; median (IQR))

0.25 (0–1)

0 (0–0.25)^c

0 (0–0.09)^b

0.5 (0–1.25)^a,b

< 0.001*

SF36 physical component (n assessed: 218; median (IQR))

41.9 (29.9–53.2)

56.2 (44.2–58.6)^c

49.5(44.0–57.8)^b

40.2 (32.9–64.4)^a,b

0.001

 SF36 PF (median (IQR))

67.5 (40–95)

97.5 (82.5–100)

92.5 (70–100)^b

55 (30–90)^a,b

< 0.001*

 SF36 RP (median (IQR))

93.8 (25–100)

100 (64.1–100)

100 (87.5–100)^b

75 (25–100)^b

0.013*

 SF36 BP (median (IQR))

62 (41–84)

73 (38.8–88)

82 (61.3–96)^b

52 (41–84)^b

0.019*

 SF36 GH (median (IQR))

47 (32.8–67)

73,5 (50.8–87)^c

45 (37–67)

47 (30–67)^a

0.046

SF36 mental component (n assessed: 217; median (IQR))

48.1 (37.3–65.8)

54.0 (32.9–64.4)

58.4 (43.4–72.1)

47.4 (34.7–66.6)

0.165

 SF36 VT (median (IQR))

50 (40–75)

65.6 (50–82.2)

63.8 (55.3–79.7)^b

50 (40–69.4)^b

0.008*

 SF36 SF (median (IQR))

87.5 (51–100)

87.5 (71.9–100)

100 (78.1–100)^b

75 (50–100)^b

0.017*

 SF36 RE (median (IQR))

100 (64.6–100)

100 (91.7–100)

100 (100–100)

100 (33.3–100)

0.154

 SF36 MH (median (IQR))

76 (60–88)

86.5 (77.5–91.3)

75 (61.4–90)

76 (60–88)

0.198

Joint surgery ever (n assessed: 361; N/%)

61 (16.9)

0 (0.0)

1 (2.2)

57 (24.1)

< 0.001*