Table 1.
Patient characteristics in the second-line b/tsDMARDs groups after PS-IPTW adjustment
| After PS-IPTW | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Second-line b/tsDMARDs | |||||
| TNFi (N = 251) | IL-6Ri (N = 188) | CTLA4Ig (N = 118) | JAKi (N = 126) | p value | |
| Sex, n (% female) | 212 (84.7%) | 159 (84.4%) | 101 (85.4%) | 107 (84.7%) | 0.996 |
| Age (years) | 61.5 ± 16.3 | 61.5 ± 14.0 | 63.8 ± 11.8 | 60.1 ± 12.4 | 0.440 |
| Disease duration (month) | 116.6 ± 109.9 | 122.4 ± 117.6 | 121.4 ± 122.8 | 115.5 ± 91.8 | 0.923 |
| Duration between first-line b/tsDMARD failure and initiation of second-line therapy (month) | 12.6 ± 21.5 | 14.8 ± 26.9 | 13.9 ± 19.9 | 14.1 ± 22.4 | 0.786 |
| Steinbrocker stage | 2.3 ± 1.0 | 2.3 ± 0.9 | 2.2 ± 1.0 | 2.2 ± 0.9 | 0.870 |
| MTX use at baseline | |||||
| n (%) | 163 (65.0%) | 123 (65.4%) | 80 (67.3%) | 84 (66.5%) | 0.972 |
| Dose (mg/w) | 7.5 ± 6.3 | 7.1 ± 6.1 | 7.5 ± 6.2 | 7.7 ± 6.3 | 0.866 |
| Glucocorticoid use at baseline | |||||
| n (%) | 47 (18.8%) | 36 (19.2%) | 20 (17.5%) | 22 (17.5%) | 0.938 |
| Dose (mg/day) | 1.1 ± 3.2 | 1.0 ± 2.6 | 1.0 ± 2.6 | 1.0 ± 2.9 | 0.982 |
| 28-tender joint count | 8.4 ± 6.5 | 7.8 ± 6.0 | 8.6 ± 6.6 | 8.2 ± 6.5 | 0.681 |
| 28-swollen joint count | 6.2 ± 5.1 | 6.3 ± 4.9 | 6.3 ± 5.1 | 6.3 ± 5.4 | 0.995 |
| PGA, VAS 0–100 mm | 49.1 ± 25.5 | 51.0 ± 23.7 | 52.9 ± 23.2 | 48.6 ± 25.2 | 0.431 |
| EGA, VAS 0–100 mm | 40.8 ± 20.2 | 39.8 ± 18.4 | 39.7 ± 18.0 | 44.1 ± 22.8 | 0.224 |
| Pain VAS, VAS 0–100 mm | 49.6 ± 26.9 | 52.2 ± 24.9 | 51.6 ± 25.4 | 49.6 ± 25.6 | 0.696 |
| CDAI | 23.6 ± 12.9 | 23.2 ± 11.1 | 24.2 ± 11.9 | 23.6 ± 13.6 | 0.919 |
| SDAI | 25.1 ± 14.1 | 25.0 ± 12.3 | 25.8 ± 12.4 | 25.4 ± 15.2 | 0.953 |
| HAQ–DI | 1.2 ± 0.9 | 1.1 ± 0.8 | 1.2 ± 0.8 | 1.1 ± 0.8 | 0.823 |
| EQ-5D | 0.6 ± 0.2 | 0.6 ± 0.1 | 0.6 ± 0.2 | 0.6 ± 0.2 | 0.316 |
| CRP (mg/dl) | 1.5 ± 2.5 | 1.8 ± 2.6 | 1.6 ± 4.4 | 1.8 ± 3.5 | 0.803 |
| ESR (mm/h) | 43.4 ± 29.0 | 46.5 ± 29.3 | 43.9 ± 32.2 | 47.5 ± 36.2 | 0.554 |
| MMP-3 (ng/ml) | 187.1 ± 261.4 | 227.7 ± 295.1 | 149.2 ± 214.3 | 191.1 ± 276.9 | 0.417 |
| Rheumatoid factor (U/ml) | 201.4 ± 393.3 | 190.1 ± 356.5 | 223.4 ± 892.5 | 234.7 ± 528.0 | 0.887 |
| Rheumatoid factor positive, n (%) | 187 (74.7%) | 141 (74.9%) | 93 (78.6%) | 95 (75.6%) | 0.863 |
| Anti-CCP antibody (U/ml) | 379.7 ± 601.1 | 340.0 ± 592.9 | 563.6 ± 1296.1 | 401.7 ± 1093.4 | 0.437 |
| Anti-CCP antibody, n (%) | 179 (71.5%) | 138 (73.5%) | 80 (67.8%) | 94 (75.0%) | 0.608 |
The data are the mean ± SD or the number (%) of patients. The Steinbrocker stage was applied as the radiographic severity classification [29]. The dose of glucocorticoid was converted into a prednisone-equivalent dose. p values were demonstrated for continuous variables by ANOVA and nominal variables by χ-square test among the four groups.
b/tsDMARDs biologic/targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, PS-IPTW propensity score-based inverse probability of treatment weighting, RA rheumatoid arthritis, MTX methotrexate, PGA VAS patient’s global assessment of disease activity visual analog scale, EGA VAS evaluator global assessment of disease activity visual analog scale, CDAI Clinical Disease Activity Index, SDAI Simplified Disease Activity Index, HAQ-DI Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index, EQ-5D EuroQoL 5 dimension, CRP C-reactive protein, ESR erythrocyte sedimentation rate, MMP-3 matrix metalloproteinase 3, CCP cyclic citrullinated peptide, TNFi tumor necrosis factor inhibitor, IL-6Ri interleukin-6 receptor inhibitor, CTLA4Ig cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 immunoglobulin, JAKi Janus kinase inhibitor