Table 3.
Prescription patterns of concomitant MTX, LFN, SSZ, and PDN with the first TNF antagonist
| Current treatment with synthetic DMARDs plus the first TNF antagonist | First TNF antagonist monotherapy | First TNF antagonist plus one csDMARD | First TNF antagonist plus two or more csDMARDs | Total | P* | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | ||
| 234 | 21 | 766 | 67 | 136 | 12 | 1.136 | 100 | ||
| None (n, %) | 172 | 73 | |||||||
| PDN (n, %) | 62 | 26 | 336 | 44 | 115 | 84 | 513 | 45 | 0.0001 |
| MTX (n, %) | 364 | 47 | < 0.0001 | ||||||
| MTX + PDN (n, %) | 189 | 25 | < 0.0001 | ||||||
| LFN + PDN (n, %) | 129 | 17 | < 0.0001 | ||||||
| LFN (n, %) | 57 | 7 | < 0.0001 | ||||||
| SSZ + PDN (n, %) | 9 | 1 | < 0.0001 | ||||||
| SSZ (n, %) | 5 | 0.6 | < 0.0001 | ||||||
| Combinations (n, %) | < 0.0001 | ||||||||
| MTX + LFN + PDN | 66 | 48 | |||||||
| MTX + SSZ + PDN | 24 | 17 | |||||||
| MTX + SSZ | 12 | 9 | |||||||
| LFN + CLQ + PDN | 8 | 6 | |||||||
| MTX + SSZ + HCLQ + PDN | 5 | 4 | |||||||
| MTX + LFN | 4 | 3 | |||||||
| Others | 17 | 13 | |||||||
| NSAIDs (n, %) | 201 | 86 | 673 | 88 | 127 | 93 | 1.013 | 88 | 0.09 |
| Mean | SD | Mean | SD | Mean | SD | Mean | SD | ||
| Current PDN dose, mg/day (mean ± SD) | 10.7 | ±5.6 | 9.6 | ±6.7 | 10.0 | ±7.5 | 9.8 | ±6.6 | 0.002 |
| Current MTX dose, mg/week (mean ± SD) | 0 | 0 | 15.3 | ±4.8 | 16.0 | 4.7 | 15.5 | 4.8 | 0.08 |
| Duration of current treatment with MTX (months) (mean ± SD) | 31.0 | 32.2 | 21.5 | 23.6 | 27.6 | 28.6 | 0.0001 | ||
| Current LFN dose, mg/day (mean ± SD) | 0 | 0 | 18.8 | 3.1 | 15.6 | 4.9 | 17.8 | 4.0 | < 0.0001 |
| Duration of current treatment with LFN (months) (mean ± SD) | 12.9 | 19.0 | 9.4 | 9.9 | 12.0 | 16.5 | 0.5 | ||
| Follow up, (years) (mean ± SD) | 2.1 | 1.0 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 0.0001 |
csDMARD conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug, DMARD disease-modifying antirheumatic drug, MTX methotrexate, LFN leflunomide, SSZ sulfasalazine, PDN prednisone, NDAID non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug