Table 1.

Patient selection for methotrexate (MTX) and biologics/tofacitinib (B/T) cohorts

Inclusion/exclusion criteria	Number of patients for MTX cohort	Number of patients for B/T cohort
Patients with two RA inpatient/outpatient diagnoses 7 days apart and within 12 months of each other in claims; age ≥ 18 years at first such RA diagnosis	49,606	49,606
Requiring ≥ 1 prescriptions of corresponding drugs from EHR at or after first RA diagnosis (first prescription defined as index prescription)	8025	5129
Requiring ≥ 12 months before index and ≥ 2 (for MTX) or ≥ 3 (for B/T) months after index of continuous medical and pharmacy benefits coverage (≤ 45 days of insurance gap allowed)	2401	1266
Excluding patients with filling or administration of corresponding drugs in claims during 12+ months before index	968	483
Excluding patients with RA-related hospitalizations in claims within 2 (MTX) or 3 (B/T) months after index prescription	955	476
Excluding patients with B/T fills or administration in pharmacy and medical claims during 12+ months before index (i.e., biologic naïve)	848	–
Excluding patients with ≥ 2 diagnoses of psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, ankylosing spondylitis, or cancer (excluding nonmelanoma skin cancer) in claims during 12+ months before index (final sample size)	763	434

RA rheumatoid arthritis, EHR electronic health record