Table 1.

Patients’ background (already and newly receiving immunosuppressive agents)

Background items	All periodsa		Period A		Period B		Period C		Period D
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
No. of patients (at start of observation)	9866	–	5571	–	5710	–	6101	–	6315	–
Sex
Male	4287	43.45	2262	40.60	2357	41.28	2537	41.58	2588	40.98
Female	5579	56.55	3309	59.40	3353	58.72	3564	58.42	3727	59.02
Unknown	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00
Age (years)b
<15	174	1.76	96	1.72	96	1.68	102	1.67	97	1.54
15–64	5433	55.07	3223	57.85	3280	57.44	3474	56.94	3559	56.36
65–74	2361	23.93	1299	23.32	1354	23.71	1433	23.49	1505	23.83
≥75	1898	19.24	953	17.11	980	17.16	1092	17.90	1154	18.27
Unknown	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00
Mean age ± SD	58.6 ± 18.0	–	57.6 ± 17.9	–	57.7 ± 17.8	–	57.8 ± 18.0	–	58.0 ± 17.9	–
Median age	62	–	61	–	61	–	62	–	62	–
Max.–min.	98–0	–	98–0	–	98–0	–	97–0	–	97–0	–
Diseases at start of observation in each period
Rheumatoid arthritis	3452	34.99	2194	39.38	2209	38.69	2405	39.42	2503	39.64
Malignant neoplasm
Solid cancer	537	5.44	224	4.02	238	4.17	268	4.39	262	4.15
Hematological malignancy	2422	24.55	1009	18.11	1044	18.28	1073	17.59	1100	17.42
Hematological malignancy and solid cancer (multiple)	414	4.20	134	2.41	135	2.36	133	2.18	121	1.92
Other	18	0.18	7	0.13	12	0.21	13	0.21	13	0.21
Hospital scale (no. of beds)
<200	1022	10.36	619	11.11	620	10.86	658	10.79	720	11.40
200–499	3684	37.34	1923	34.52	1976	34.61	2109	34.57	2187	34.63
≥500	5160	52.30	3029	54.37	3114	54.54	3334	54.65	3408	53.97
Immunosuppressive agents (incl. duplicate counts)
Antineoplastic agent	2537	25.71	947	17.00	989	17.32	982	16.10	1000	15.84
Antirheumatic drug	2290	23.21	1480	26.57	1545	27.06	1671	27.39	1780	28.19
Immunosuppressant	5695	57.72	3384	60.74	3438	60.21	3759	61.61	3860	61.12

^aIn the ‘All periods’ column, each patient is counted once, even if treated in more than one period

^bAge at the start of the first administration of immunosuppressive agents in each period