Table 5.
Time to first definitive treatment by disease pattern
| Time to first definitive treatment by disease pattern | 2001–04 | 2005–06 | 2007–08 | 2009–11 | P-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oligoarticular disease pattern | |||||
| Total, n (%) | 196 (68.8) | 158 (60) | 175 (57.2) | 122 (58.1) | 0.25 |
| No. of patients receiving IA steroid ever in first year (%) | 114 | 121 | 139 | 97 | 0.0001 |
| (58.2) | (76.1) | (79) | (79.5) | ||
| Median days from first PRh to first IA steroid (IQR) | 25.5 | 25 | 19 | 19 | 0.04 |
| (9–65) | (7–49) | (8–48) | (9–48) | ||
| No. of patients receiving biologic agents ever in first year (%) | 5 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 0.9 |
| (2.55) | (2.53) | (3.41) | (2.46) | ||
| Polyarticular disease pattern | |||||
| n (%) | 65 (22.8) | 83 (31.3) | 79 (25.8) | 53 (25.2) | 0.5 |
| MTX ever in first year, n (%) | 55 (84.6) | 72 (86.8) | 76 (96.2) | 49 (92.5) | 0.081 |
| Median days from first PRh to first MTX (IQR) | 27 (1–79) | 17 (1–43) | 5 (0–17) | 11 (0–84) | 0.03 |
| Median days from first PRh to first oral/i.v./i.m. steroid (IQR) | 14 (1–140) | 0 (0–21) | 9 (3–41) | 13 (6–68) | 0.63 |
| No. of patients receiving biologic agents ever in first year (%) | 4 (6.15) | 16 (19.3) | 17 (21.25) | 10 (18.9) | 0.06 |
| Systemic disease pattern | |||||
| n (%) | 17 (6) | 11 (4.2) | 17 (5.5) | 11 (5.2) | 0.40 |
| MTX ever in first year, n (%) | 15 (88.2) | 11 (100) | 156 (88.3) | 89 (72.8) | 0.66 |
| Median days from first PRh to first MTX (IQR) | 37 (14–78) | 14 (9–25) | 15 (6–24) | 15 (13–26) | 0.07 |
| Median days from first PRh to first oral/i.v./i.m. steroid (IQR) | 53 (4–117) | 8 (6–20) | 7.5 (5–31) | 12.5 (2–19) | 0.07 |
| No. of patients receiving biologic agents ever in first year (%) | 3 (17.65) | 2 (18.2) | 2 (11.8) | 1 (9.1) | 0.5 |
IA: intra-articular; IQR: interquartile range; PRh: paediatric rheumatology.