Table 3. Mortality in patients with pulmonary NTM disease.
| All patients (n = 225) | RA patients (n = 34) | Non-RA patients (n = 191) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Follow-up*, months, mean (95% CI) | 47.5 (42.9–52.0) | 61.7 (67.1–74.2) | 44.9 (40.0–49.8) |
| Lost to follow-up, number (%) | 69 (30.7) | 2 (5.9) | 67 (35.1) |
| All-cause death, number (%) | 61 (27.1) | 12 (35.3) | 49 (25.7) |
| Crude incidence rate per 100 PYs (95% CI) | 6.9 (5.3–8.8) | 6.9 (3.9–12.1) | 6.9 (5.2–9.1) |
| Cumulative incidence at 5 years (95% CI) † | 0.22 (0.17–0.28) | 0.24 (0.10–0.41) | 0.23 (0.17–0.29) |
| NTM-related death‡, number (%) | 42 (18.7) | 6 (17.6) | 36 (18.8) |
| Crude incidence rate per 100 PYs (95% CI) | 5.1 (3.8–6.8) | 3.4 (1.5–7.6) | 5.0 (3.6–7.0) |
| Cumulative incidence at 5 years (95% CI) † | 0.16 (0.11–0.22) | 0.11 (0.03–0.29) | 0.18 (0.12–0.24) |
* Follow-up was measured from the diagnosis of pulmonary NTM disease.
†Cumulative incidences of all-cause death and NTM-related death at 5 years (5-year mortality rates) were estimated by the CIF. Gray’s test was used for comparisons of mortality estimates over time between RA patients and non-RA patients (p = 0.36 for all-cause death and p = 0.77 for NTM-related death).
‡NTM-related death was defined as death caused by an exacerbation of the pulmonary NTM disease shown in Table 2.
NTM, nontuberculous, mycobacteria; RA rheumatoid arthritis; PYs, patient-years; CIF, cumulative incidence function; CI, confidence interval.