Table 1.
Clinical and demographic parameters of patients with rheumatoid arthritis
| Parameter | Post-rituximab (n = 11) |
Pre-rituximab (n = 8) |
Controls (n = 10) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vaccination time | 6 months after RTX | 6 days before RTX | No RTX |
| B cells (% of mononuclear cells in circulation) (mean ± SD) | 2.2 ± 5.2 | 4.7 ± 4.1 | 6.1 ± 2.9 |
| Age, years (mean ± SD, range) |
60.4 ± 7.8 (45-70) |
65.4 ± 11.5 (55-82) |
63.6 ± 12.9 (48-95) |
| Gender, m/f | 1/10 | 1/7 | 3/7 |
| Disease duration, years (range) |
17.3 ± 13.1 (6-33) |
8.6 ± 5.5 (3-18) |
7.4 ± 4.6 (2-16) |
| Erosive | 10 (91%) | 7 (87%) | 9 (90%) |
| RF, positive | 11 | 8 | 10 |
| Treatment | |||
| MTX, n (mg/week, mean ± SD) | 10 (17.7 ± 6.3)a | 7 (18.7 ± 5.4)b | 10 (18.3 ± 5.6) |
| Previous anti-TNF, n | 10 | 5 | 2 |
| Previous RTX, n | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Time after previous RTX, months | 30 months (14-48) |
24 months | 0 |
MTX, Methotrexate; RF, rheumatoid factor; RTX, rituximab; SD, standard deviation; TNF, tumor necrosis factor.
aOne patient was receiving azathioprine treatment.
bOne patient was receiving chlorambucil treatment.