Table 1.

Clinical characteristics at cross-sectional visit of patients in MTX and biologic era cohorts

	MTX era (n = 239)	Biologic era (n = 269)	P
Female	189 (79.1)	219 (81.4)	0.51
Median (IQR) age at disease onset, years	3.1 (1.8–5.8)	2.5 (1.6–4.7)	0.016
Median (IQR) disease duration at study visit, years	7.7 (6.1–10.2)	6.9 (5.4–9.7)	0.0005
Median (IQR) disease duration at first observation, years	0.7 (0.2–2.0)	0.6 (0.2–1.8)	0.52
ILAR category
Systemic arthritis	23 (9.6)	17 (6.3)	0.0025
RF-negative polyarthritis	49 (20.5)	51 (19.0)
RF-positive polyarthritis	5 (2.1)	0.0 (0.0)
Persistent oligoarthritis	73 (30.5)	119 (44.2)
Extended oligoarthritis	55 (23.0)	63 (23.4)
Psoriatic arthritis	15 (6.3)	7 (2.6)
Undifferentiated arthritis	19 (7.9)	12 (4.5)
Patients with positive ANA	184 (77.0)	221 (82.2)	0.05
Past treatment
Methotrexate	153 (64.0)	209 (77.7)	0.0007
Cyclosporin A	58 (24.3)	19 (7.0)	< 0.0001
Sulfasalazine	17 (7.1)	7 (2.6)	0.017
Biologic DMARDs	26 (10.9)	99 (36.8)	< 0.0001
Etanercept	23 (9.6)	84 (31.2)	< 0.0001
Infliximab	5 (2.1)	4 (1.5)	0.74
Adalimumab	–	27 (10.0)	–
Anakinra	–	7 (2.6)	–
Abatacept	–	3 (1.1)	–
Tocilizumab	–	4 (1.5)	–
Systemic glucocorticoids	92 (38.5)	85 (31.6)	0.10
Intraarticular glucocorticoids	187 (78.2)	250 (93.0)	< 0.0001
Present treatment
Methotrexate	90/200 (45.0)	95/266 (35.7)	0.043
Cyclosporin A	18/200 (9.0)	3/266 (1.1)	< 0.0001
Biologic DMARDs	16/200 (8.0)	89/266 (33.5)	< 0.0001
Systemic glucocorticoids	8/200 (4.0)	8/266 (3.0)	0.56
No therapy	52/200 (26.0)	90/266 (33.8)	0.069

Data are number positive/number with information available (percentage) unless otherwise indicated; reference [11]

MTX methotrexate, IQR interquartile range, RF rheumatoid factor, ANA antinuclear antibodies, DMARDs disease antirheumatic drugs