Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of the study cohorts of Swedish patients with RA initiating a b/tsDMARD treatment 2016–2020
| Initiators of tofacitinib | Initiators of baricitinib | Initiators of upadacitinib | Initiators of all JAKis | Initiators of a non-TNFi bDMARD | Initiators of a TNFi | General population Reference cohort |
|
| Observations (treatment initiations) | 377 | 1676 | 90 | 2143 | 4128 | 8580 | |
| Individuals | 377 | 1676 | 90 | 1967 | 3520 | 7343 | 48 318 |
| Age years, median (IQR) | 58 (50–67) | 59 (50–70) | 56 (49–64) | 59 (50–69) | 60 (51–70) | 56 (46–67) | 57 (47–68) |
| Female, % | 83 | 81 | 86 | 82 | 79 | 78 | 78 |
| Median follow-up, years | 2.15 | 1.98 | 0.14 | 1.95 | 2.83 | 2.49 | 2.73 |
| Total person time at risk, years | 799 | 3207 | 15 | 4022 | 11 231 | 21 389 | 130 026 |
| Disease-related | |||||||
| Disease duration years, median (IQR) | 12.9 (7.2–23.9) | 13.2 (6.7–21.9) | 15.6 (7.8–22.1) | 13.2 (6.8–22.3) | 11.2 (4.9–20.0) | 7.1 (2.6–14.7) | |
| Seropositive, % | 76 | 80 | 73 | 79 | 84 | 76 | |
| DAS28CRP, median (IQR) | 4.6 (3.7–5.4) | 4.4 (3.5–5.1) | 4.2 (3.3–5.0) | 4.4 (3.5–5.1) | 4.5 (3.7–5.2) | 4.1 (3.4–4.9) | |
| DAS28CRP missing, % | 45 | 40 | 49 | 41 | 43 | 41 | |
| CRP <5, % | 46 | 47 | 54 | 47 | 40 | 48 | |
| CRP5-9, % | 13 | 18 | 18 | 17 | 18 | 18 | |
| CRP 10–19, % | 13 | 17 | 11 | 16 | 17 | 16 | |
| CRP ≥20, % | 27 | 19 | 18 | 20 | 25 | 18 | |
| CRP missing, % | 34 | 29 | 37 | 30 | 32 | 30 | |
| Smoker, % | 58 | 59 | 60 | 59 | 60 | 57 | |
| Smoking missing, % | 13 | 19 | 20 | 18 | 20 | 28 | |
| 0 previous b/tsDMARDs, % | 9 | 13 | 6 | 12 | 20 | 63 | |
| 1–2 previous b/tsDMARDs, % | 28 | 39 | 34 | 37 | 48 | 31 | |
| 3+previous b/tsDMARDs, % | 63 | 48 | 60 | 51 | 31 | 6 | |
| Treatment related, % | |||||||
| Concomitant methotrexate use, % | 36 | 43 | 39 | 42 | 46 | 63 | 1 |
| Concomitant oral steroid use, % | 68 | 64 | 61 | 64 | 68 | 61 | 2 |
| Prednisolone use (average among users) mg prior 1 year, % | 4.2 (2.7–6.8) | 4.1 (2.1–6.2) | 4.2 (2.1–5.7) | 4.1 (2.1–6.3) | 4.1 (2.7–6.8) | 3.4 (1.4–5.5) | 1.4 (0.7–4.8) |
| Comorbidities (previous 5 years), % | |||||||
| History of diabetes types 1 and 2 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 8 |
| History of ischaemic heart disease | 5 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 2 |
| History of hospitalised infections | 13 | 13 | 6 | 12 | 13 | 6 | 3 |
| History of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | 10 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 3 |
| History of kidney failure | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| History of heart failure | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| History of stroke | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 3 |
| History of VTE | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| History of joint surgery | 7 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 2 |
| History of hypertension | 12 | 15 | 11 | 14 | 16 | 9 | 7 |
| History of NMSC | 1.6 | 1.9 | 3.3 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 1.5 | 1.0 |
| Drug dispensations (previous 6 months), % | |||||||
| Lipid lowering drugs | 15 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 13 | 14 |
| Other measures of comorbidities/health | |||||||
| Hospital days in the previous year | 5 (1–17) | 5 (2–12) | 5 (3–40) | 5 (2–13) | 7 (3–15) | 4 (2–10) | 5 (2–13) |
| Sick leave in the previous year, % | 17 | 16 | 21 | 16 | 15 | 17 | 7 |
| Disability pension in the previous year, % | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Socioeconomics | |||||||
| Education >12 years, % | 29 | 33 | 36 | 33 | 31 | 35 | 38 |
| Married/partner, % | 54 | 51 | 62 | 52 | 51 | 50 | 49 |
b/tsDMARD, biological/targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug; CRP, C reactive protein; DAS28, Disease Activity Score 28; JAKi, Janus kinase inhibitor; NMSC, non-melanoma skin cancer; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; TNFi, tumour necrosis factor inhibitor; VTE, venous thromboembolism.