Table 5.
Physicians’ perception of the importance of various factors in deciding on a treatment
| Physicians’ perception | Number of physicians who answered each option
|
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Rate of no 5 (%) | Rate of no 4+5 (%) | |
|
| |||||||
| Not important | Very important | ||||||
| Q4:11 Information about adverse effects of the treatment | 0 | 3 | 6 | 87 | 61 | 38.9 | 94.3 |
| Q4:10 Information about treatment effects | 0 | 2 | 9 | 89 | 57 | 36.3 | 93.0 |
| Q4:6 Acute-phase reactions (abnormal serum CRP or ESR) | 0 | 2 | 8 | 91 | 56 | 35.7 | 93.6 |
| Q4:3 Radiographic changes of typical erosion in the affected joints | 0 | 2 | 16 | 83 | 56 | 35.7 | 88.5 |
| Q4:8 Functional status (disability), usually assessed by HAQ score | 0 | 2 | 12 | 94 | 49 | 31.2 | 91.1 |
| Q4:2 Number of swollen or tender joints | 0 | 2 | 17 | 92 | 46 | 29.3 | 87.9 |
| Q4:5 Serum anti-CCP antibody | 0 | 2 | 22 | 88 | 44 | 28.0 | 84.1 |
| Q4:7 Activity of daily living at home, school, workplace, etc | 0 | 2 | 11 | 103 | 41 | 26.1 | 91.7 |
| Q4:12 Patients’ financial burden of treatment | 0 | 3 | 16 | 101 | 37 | 23.6 | 87.9 |
| Q4:1 Patients’ age | 0 | 6 | 20 | 94 | 35 | 22.3 | 82.2 |
| Q4:9 Patients’ preferences for treatment | 0 | 5 | 24 | 106 | 22 | 14.0 | 81.5 |
| Q4:4 Serum rheumatoid factor | 0 | 10 | 41 | 83 | 18 | 11.5 | 64.3 |
Note: Questions are listed in Table S1.
Abbreviations: Q, question; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; HAQ, health assessment questionnaire; CRP, C-reactive protein; CCP, cyclic citrullinated peptide.