Table 2.
Healthcare costs over 2 years of follow-up in the Tapering strategies in Rheumatoid Arthritis study according to intention to treat
| Tapering csDMARDs first (n=94) | Tapering TNF-inhibitor first (n=95) | |||
| Number of visits, mean (SD) | Mean costs (SD) | Number of visits, mean (SD) | Mean costs (SD) | |
| Medication* | ||||
| csDMARDs* | €436 (€87) | €972 (€123) | ||
| TNF-inhibitor* | €19 417 (€738) | €9673 (€863) | ||
| Prednisone | €2.46 (€0.54) | €2.84 (€0.59) | ||
| Medical consumption | ||||
| Hospitalisation | 13 ‡ | €326 (€1313) | 15 ‡ | €558 (€2271) |
| Standard healthcare | ||||
| Primary care physician | 7.7 (9) | €260 (€302) | 8.9 (9) | €303 (€318) |
| Specialist | 12.0 (6) | €1153 (€647) | 12 (6) | €1203 (€738) |
| Psychologist | 0.5 (2) | €18 (€83) | 1.2 (8) | €40 (€266) |
| Paramedical care | ||||
| Physical therapy | 14.4 (32) | €506 (€1110) | 15.9 (31) | €554 (€1063) |
| Dietitian | 0.46 (2) | €14 (€62) | 0.040 (0.3) | €1.31 (€8.95) |
| Social worker | 0.14 (0.6) | €9.40 (€41) | 0.20 (0.8) | €14 (€52) |
| Speech therapist | 0.04 (0.3) | €1.32 (€10) | 0.02 (0.2) | €0.65 (€6.36) |
| Complementary medicine | ||||
| Homeopathy | 0.83 (3) | €26 (€97) | 0.44 (2) | €14 (€67) |
| Total healthcare costs, mean (SD) | €22 484 (€8069) | €13 616 (€9162) | ||
*p<0.001 (linear regression adjusted for stratified randomisation).
†Number reflects the number of patients who got hospitalised within the 2 years of follow-up.
csDMARDs, conventional synthetic disease modifying antirheumatic drugs; TNF, tumour necrosis factor.