Table 3.
Characteristics of patients who switched or discontinued therapy at time of first switch or discontinuation (2004–2015)
| Characteristic | All switchers | Remission/LDA at time of switch | All discontinuers | Remission/LDA at time of discontinuation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N = 3520 | N = 1123 | N = 2777 | N = 1106 | |
| Female, n (%) | 2798 (79.5) | 866 (77.1) | 2154 (77.6) | 840 (75.9) |
| BMI, n (%) | ||||
| Underweight (BMI < 18.5) | 48 (1.4) | 11 (1.0) | 39 (1.4) | 11 (1.0) |
| Normal weight (BMI ≥ 18.5 to < 25) | 901 (25.6) | 322 (28.7) | 685 (24.7) | 296 (26.8) |
| Overweight (BMI ≥ 25 to < 30) | 1081 (30.8) | 360 (32.1) | 889 (32.1) | 389 (35.2) |
| Obese (BMI ≥ 30) | 1484 (42.2) | 429 (38.2) | 1159 (41.8) | 408 (37) |
| Previous number of csDMARDs, mean (SD) | 0.9 (1.0) | 0.9 (0.9) | 0.8 (1.0) | 0.8 (1.0) |
| Previous TNFi use, n (%) | ||||
| 1 previous TNFi | 1567 (66.5) | 545 (76.2) | 1079 (63.5) | 480 (72.6) |
| 2+ previous TNFi | 790 (33.5) | 170 (23.8) | 620 (36.5) | 181 (27.4) |
| Previous non-TNFi biologic use, n (%) | ||||
| 0 previous non-TNFi biologic | 2911 (82.7) | 978 (87.1) | 2243 (80.8) | 950 (85.9) |
| 1 previous non-TNFi biologic | 474 (13.5) | 118 (10.5) | 410 (14.8) | 121 (10.9) |
| 2+ previous non-TNFi biologic | 135 (3.8) | 27 (2.4) | 124 (4.5) | 35 (3.2) |
| Previous biologic/tsDMARD use, n (%) | ||||
| 1 previous biologic/tsDMARD | 1510 (60.5) | 537 (70.7) | 1003 (55.4) | 445 (64.3) |
| 2 previous biologic/tsDMARD | 560 (22.5) | 140 (18.4) | 453 (25.0) | 154 (22.3) |
| 3+ previous biologic/tsDMARD | 424 (17.0) | 83 (10.9) | 353 (19.5) | 93 (13.4) |
| Current concomitant medication, n (%) | ||||
| TNFi onmotherapy | 399 (11.3) | 121 (10.8) | 253 (9.1) | 105 (9.5) |
| TNFi combination therapy | 1308 (37.2) | 433 (38.6) | 900 (32.4) | 378 (34.2) |
| MTX monotherapy | 363 (10.3) | 125 (11.1) | 390 (14.0) | 135 (12.2) |
| MTX + other csDMARD | 315 (8.9) | 112 (10.0) | 328 (11.8) | 153 (13.8) |
| Other csDMARD | 425 (12.1) | 162 (14.4) | 328 (11.8) | 142 (12.8) |
| Disease activity, mean (SD) | ||||
| Tender joint count (28) | 6.3 (7.1) | 0.7 (1.2) | 5.3 (6.8) | 0.6 (1.1) |
| Swollen joint count (28) | 5.1 (5.6) | 0.9 (1.4) | 4.4 (5.4) | 0.8 (1.4) |
| Physician Global Assessment (0–100) | 30.6 (22.6) | 10.8 (10.6) | 26.4 (21.8) | 10.0 (10.1) |
| Patient Global Assessment (0–100) | 42.0 (27.5) | 20.9 (19.9) | 38.9 (27.2) | 20.9 (19.9) |
| CDAI | 18.6 (13.9) | 4.7 (3.1) | 16.2 (13.3) | 4.5 (3.0) |
| Patient pain (0–100) | 44.7 (28.5) | 24.5 (22.6) | 41.2 (28.5) | 23.5 (22.0) |
| DAS28 | 4.0 (1.6) | 2.5 (1.0) | 3.8 (1.6) | 2.4 (1.0) |
| Patient reported fatigue (0–100) | 47.4 (29.7) | 30.4 (26.6) | 44.2 (29.8) | 29.1 (26.5) |
| hsCRP | 11.8 (37.4) | 11.4 (49.3) | 10.9 (26.6) | 9.6 (25.7) |
| Morning stiffness, n (%) | 2836 (82.3) | 704 (63.8) | 2185 (80.6) | 709 (65.5) |
| Morning stiffness time (hours), mean (SD) | 1.6 (3.2) | 0.7 (1.9) | 1.6 (5.5) | 0.7 (2.1) |
N = total number of patients in each cohort; n = number of patients with characteristic
BMI body mass index, CDAI, Clinical Disease Activity Index, csDMARD conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug, DAS28 Disease Activity Score-28, hsCRP high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, LDA low disease activity, MTX methotrexate, SD standard deviation, TNFi tumor necrosis factor inhibitor, tsDMARD targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug