Table 2.
DMARD new users’ characteristics according to first-line therapy with cs-DMARDsor b-DMARDs (included combinations).
| cs-DMARD first-line5037 | b-DMARD first-line387 | Total5424 | ||||
| N | % | N | % | N | % | |
| Sex | ||||||
| Female | 3873 | 76.9 | 288 | 74.4 | 4161 | 76.7 |
| Male | 1164 | 23.1 | 99 | 25.6 | 1263 | 23.3 |
| Age categories∗ | ||||||
| <30 years | 600 | 11.9 | 124 | 32.0 | 724 | 13.3 |
| 30–44 years | 863 | 17.1 | 67 | 17.3 | 930 | 17.1 |
| 45–54 years | 991 | 19.7 | 70 | 18.1 | 1061 | 19.6 |
| 55–64 years | 1259 | 25.0 | 65 | 16.8 | 1324 | 24.4 |
| ≥65 years | 1324 | 26.3 | 61 | 15.76 | 1385 | 25.5 |
| Cancer∗ | 103 | 2.0 | 13 | 3.36 | 116 | 2.1 |
| Conduction disorders and arrhythmias | 116 | 2.3 | 5 | 1.3 | 121 | 2.2 |
| Cardio-cerebrovascular diseases∗ | 608 | 12.1 | 44 | 11.4 | 652 | 12.0 |
| Psychiatric diseases (dementia, Alzheimer, depression) | 43 | 0.9 | 2 | 0.5 | 45 | 0.8 |
| COPD and respiratory failure | 82 | 1.6 | 4 | 1.0 | 86 | 1.6 |
| Neuromuscular diseases | 27 | 0.5 | 3 | 0.8 | 30 | 0.6 |
| Liver, pancreas, and kidney diseases | 64 | 1.3 | 6 | 1.6 | 70 | 1.3 |
| Arthrosis∗ | 329 | 6.5 | 34 | 8.8 | 363 | 6.7 |
| Infections | 24 | 0.5 | 2 | 0.5 | 26 | 0.5 |
| Diabetes∗ | 964 | 19.1 | 53 | 13.7 | 1017 | 18.8 |
| Hypertension∗ | 2231 | 44.3 | 127 | 32.8 | 2358 | 43.5 |
| Hypothyroidism | 849 | 16.9 | 55 | 14.2 | 904 | 16.7 |
| Osteoporosis∗ | 410 | 8.1 | 21 | 5.4 | 431 | 7.9 |
| NSAIDs∗ | 3171 | 63.0 | 161 | 41.6 | 3332 | 61.4 |
| Corticosteroids∗ | 3203 | 63.6 | 166 | 42.9 | 3369 | 62.1 |
| Analgesics | 645 | 12.8 | 39 | 10.1 | 684 | 12.6 |
| Opioids | 608 | 12.1 | 38 | 9.8 | 646 | 11.9 |
| Psychoanaleptics | 400 | 7.9 | 24 | 6.2 | 424 | 7.8 |
| Antiepileptics | 291 | 5.8 | 19 | 4.9 | 310 | 5.7 |
COPD = chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
∗
Results of Chi square test show differences statistically significant (P < .05).