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. 2021 Jul 19;60(10):4450–4462. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keab429

Table 1.

Characteristics of the studies included in the meta-analysis

Author (year), study Phase of study, country Population Intervention Comparator Duration of treatment (weeks) Number of subjects in intervention Number of subjects in comparator Age intervention mean (S.D.), years RA duration intervention mean (S.D.), months DAS28/ESR intervention mean (S.D.)
bDMARD combination and monotherapy

  • Detert (2013), HIT HARD [14]

  • NR, DE

 Treatment naïve Adalimumab + MTX MTX 48 87 85 47.2 (12.12) 1.8 (2.09) 6.2 (0.8)

  • Horslev-Petersen (2013), OPERA [15]

  • III, DK

 Treatment naïve Adalimumab + MTX MTX 52 89 91 56.2 2.8 5.5 (NR)#

  • Emery (2016), C-EARLY [16]

  • III, Worldwide

 Treatment naïve Certolizumab pegol + MTX MTX 52 655 213 50.4 (13.6) 2.9 (4.6) 6.7 (0.9)

  • Bijlsma (2016), U-Act-Early [17]

  • III, NL

 Treatment naïve

  • Tocilizumab Tocilizumab + MTX

 MTX 104

  • 103 106

 108

  • 55.0 53.0

  • < 12 a < 12 a

  • 5.3 (1.1) 5.2 (1.1)

  • Nam (2013), IDEA [ 18 ]

  • IV, UK

 Treatment naïve Infliximab + MTX MTX + i.v. steroid 78d 55 57 53.7 (13) < 12 4.05 (1.04)Š#

  • Nam (2014), EMPIRE [19]

  • III, UK

 Treatment naïvee Etanercept + MTX MTX 78 55 55 47.91 (13.58) 6 4.10 (1.14)#

  • Atsumi (2016), C-OPERA [20]

  • III, JP

 MTX naïve Certolizumab + MTX MTX 52 159 157 49.4 (10.3) 4.0 (2.9) 5.4 (1.1)

  • Emery (2008), COMET [21]

  • IV, Worldwide

 MTX naïve Etanercept + MTX MTX 52 265 263 50.5 8.8 (0.4) 6.5 (1.0) c

  • Tak (2010), IMAGE [22]

  • III, Worldwide

 MTX naïve Rituximab + MTX MTX 52 249 249 47.9 (13.4) 12 7.1 (1.0)

  • Brumester (2017), FUNCTION [23]

  • III, Worldwide

 MTX naïve

  • Tocilizumab Tocilizumab + MTX

 MTX 104

  • 292 290

 287

  • 49.9 (13.22) 49 (13.70)

  • 6 6

  • 6.7 (0.99) 6.7 (1.11)

  • Breedveld (2005), PREMIER [24]

  • III, Worldwide

 MTX naïve

  • Adalimumab Adalimumab + MTX

 MTX 104

  • 274 268

 257

  • 52.1 (13.5) 51.9 (14.0)

  • 8.4 b 8.4

  • 6.4 (0.9)c 6.3 (0.9)c

  • Emery (2015), AVERT [25]

  • III, Worldwide

 MTX naïve or MTX (≤10 mg/week) for ≤4 weeks

  • Abatacept Abatacept + MTX

 MTX 52

  • 116 119

 116

  • 45.4 (11.9) 46.4 (13.2)

  • 7 6.9

  • 5.5 (1.1)# 5.5 (1.3)#

  • Yamanaka (2014), HOPEFUL-1 [26]

  • III, JP

 MTX naïve Adalimumab + MTX MTX 52f 170 163 54.0 (13.2) 3.6 6.6 (0.9)

  • Kavanaugh (2012), OPTIMA [27]

  • IV, Worldwide

 MTX naïve Adalimumab + MTX MTX 26 515 517 50.7 (14.5) 4.0 (3.6) 6.0 (1.0)g
tsDMARD combination and monotherapy

  • Lee (2014), ORAL Start [28]

  • III, Worldwide

 MTX naïve Tofacitinib MTX 104 770 186 50.3 34.8h 6.6

  • Fleischmann (2017), RA-BEGIN [29]

  • III, Worldwide

 MTX naïve or ≤ 3 weekly doses of MTX

  • Baricitinib Baricitinib + MTX

 MTX 52

  • 159 215

 210

  • 51 (13) 49 (14)

  • 22.8 15.6

  • 6.6 (1.1) 6.6 (1.0)

  • van Vollenhoven (2020), SELECT-EARLY [30]

  • III, Worldwide

 MTX naïve or ≤ 3 weekly doses of MTX Upadacitinib MTX 24 317 314 51.9 (12.6) 34.8i 5.9 (1.0)#
SSZ combination and monotherapy

  • HAAGSMA (1997) [ 31 ]

  • III/IV, NL

 Treatment naïve

  • SSZ SSZ + MTX

 MTX 52

  • 34 36

 35

  • 56.8 (13.0) 57 (12.2)

  • 3.1 (1.9) 2.6 (1.4)

  • 4.6 (0.8) 5 (0.8)

  • Dougados (1999) [ 32 ]

  • III/IV, Europe

 Treatment naïve

  • SSZ SSZ + MTX

 MTX 52

  • 68 68

 69

  • 52 (2) 52 (2)

  • 2.9 (0.3) 3.4 (0.3)

4.23j

4.25j
MTX + steroid

  • Bakker (2012), CAMERA-II [33]

  • III/IV, NL

 Treatment naïve Prednisone + MTX MTX 104 117 119 54 (14) < 12 5.8 (1.3)
a

Reports the symptom duration. bBreedveld (2005) 10–16% of patients’ disease duration up to 3 years. cDAS was not specified. dNam (2013) only 26 weeks blinded. eNam (2014) The majority of patients (94%) fulfilled the subsequent 2010 RA classification criteria. fYamanaka (2014) only 26 weeks blinded. gDAS28 using CRP. hLee (2014) patients had a mean disease duration of up to 3.4 years. ivan Vollenhoven (2020) patients had a mean disease duration of up to 2.9 years. jDAS44. bDMARD: biologic DMARDs; DE: Germany; DK: Denmark; JP: Japan; NL: Netherlands; NR: not reported; tsDMARD: targeted synthetic DMARD.