Table 2. Medications and causes of death in patients with RA-ILD.
| Variables | All subjects | Definite UIP | Probable UIP | Early UIP | NSIP/UIP | NSIP | OP | NSIP+OP | P value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. of patients | 96 | 20 | 19 | 3 | 26 | 13 | 6 | 5 | – |
| Medications (during follow-up), N [%] | |||||||||
| Corticosteroid use | 50 [52] | 8 [40] | 6 [32] | 1 [33] | 17 [65] | 8 [62] | 6 [100] | 3 [60] | 0.034 |
| Methotrexate use | 22 [23] | 1 [5] | 10 [53] | 1 [33] | 3 [12] | 4 [31] | 2 [33] | 0 [0] | 0.005 |
| Iguratimod use | 7 [7] | 0 [0] | 4 [21] | 0 [0] | 2 [8] | 0 [0] | 0 [0] | 0 [0] | 0.227 |
| Calcineurin inhibitor use | 30 [31] | 8 [40] | 4 [21] | 0 [0] | 13 [50] | 1 [8] | 1 [17] | 3 [60] | 0.044 |
| Biologics use | 19 [20] | 4 [20] | 4 [21] | 1 [33] | 5 [19] | 2 [15] | 1 [17] | 1 [20] | 0.992 |
| Pirfenidone or nintedanib use | 3 [3] | 0 [0] | 1 [5] | 0 [0] | 1 [4] | 0 [0] | 0 [0] | 1 [20] | 0.422 |
| Total deaths (during follow-up), N [%] | 25 [26] | 6 [30] | 3 [16] | 0 [0] | 8 [31] | 4 [31] | 1 [17] | 1 [20] | 0.880 |
| Acute exacerbation of ILD | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Chronic disease progression | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Infection | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Malignancy | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Cerebro-cardiovascular disease | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Unknown | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Median follow-up, years (range) | 3.7 (0.2–12.7) | 2.2 (0.7–11.2) | 4.0 (0.8–11.1) | 1.8 (0.2–1.9) | 4.3 (0.6–12.7) | 4.0 (0.9–8.9) | 4.1 (1.4–5.6) | 4.5 (2.0–12.3) | 0.185 |
RA, rheumatoid arthritis; ILD, interstitial lung disease; UIP, usual interstitial pneumonia; NSIP, nonspecific interstitial pneumonia; OP, organizing pneumonia.