Table 3.
Characteristics of RA patients who developed HBVr and those who did not before b/tsDMARD dose tapering.
| Characteristics | RA Patients Who Developed HBVr (n = 6) |
RA Patients Who Did Not Develop HBVr (n = 34) |
p Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristics before b/tsDMARD use | |||
| Age (years), median (IQR) | 55 (49, 62) | 54 (45, 63) | 0.88 |
| Female sex, n (%) | 6 (100) | 31 (91) | 0.45 |
| Disease duration (years), median (IQR) | 8.0 (5.0, 8.0) | 6.5 (3.0, 10.0) | 0.77 |
| RF positivity, n (%) | 5 (83) | 24 (71) | 0.52 |
| ACPA positivity, n (%)a | 4 (67) | 25 (76) | 0.64 |
| DAS28-ESR, median (IQR) | 7.2 (6.3, 8.0) | 6.3 (5.8, 7.0) | 0.06 |
| ESR (mm/hr), median (IQR) | 50 (26, 75) | 40 (22, 55) | 0.42 |
| CRP (mg/dL), median (IQR) b,* | 3.6 (2.1, 6.4) | 1.2 (0.6, 2.9) | 0.02 * |
| Characteristics after b/tsDMARD use | |||
| Follow-up period (years), median (IQR) | 2.5 (2.0, 2.7) | 2.5 (1.6, 3.3) | 0.91 |
| Corticosteroids (mg/day), median (IQR) a | 5.0 (2.5, 5.0) | 2.5 (2.5, 5.0) | 0.62 |
| CsDMARDs | |||
| Methotrexate (mg/week), median (IQR) | 0.0 (0.0, 7.5) | 0.0 (0.0, 7.5) | 0.93 |
| Cyclosporine, n (%) | 1 (17) | 3 (9) | 0.55 |
| Salazopyrine, n (%) | 0 (0) | 8 (24) | 0.18 |
| Azathioprine, n (%) | 0 (0) | 1 (3) | 0.67 |
| Leflunomide, n (%) | 1 (17) | 4 (12) | 0.74 |
| Hydroxychloroquine, n (%) | 5 (83) | 21 (62) | 0.31 |
| b/tsDMARDs, n (%) | 0.72 | ||
| TNF-α inhibitors | 2 (33) | 10 (29) | |
| Abatacept | 1 (17) | 5 (15) | |
| Tocilizumab | 1 (17) | 13 (38) | |
| Tofacitinib | 2 (33) | 6 (18) | |
| Antiviral drugs for HBV, n (%) | 2 (33) | 7 (21) | 0.49 |
ACPA, anti-citrullinated protein antibody; b/tsDMARDs, biologic/targeted syntehtic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs; CHB, chronic hepatitis B; CRP, C-reactive protein; csDMARDs; conventional synthetic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs; DAS28-ESR, disease activity score−28 for rheumatoid arthritis with erythrocyte sedimention rate; ESR, erythrocyte sedimention rate; HBV, hepatitis B virus; IQR, interquartile range; n, number of individuals; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; RF, rheumatoid factor; TNF, tumor necrosis factor. a Three patients did not receive ACPA examination. b One patient did not receive CRP examination. * < 0.05.