Baseline characteristics of patients receiving rituximab therapy. Values are mean ± SD unless otherwise specified. Disease duration was available for 98% of the patients, RF status for 97%, EQ5D for 93%, HAQ for 90%, ESR for 85%, and C-reactive protein (CRP) for 54%.
| Characteristics | All RTX Patients, n = 646 | Patients who Experienced Anti-TNF Failure, n = 540 | Anti-TNF-naive patients, n = 106 | p† |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demographics | ||||
| Age, yrs | 58.7 ± 11.6 | 58.1 ± 11.6 | 61.6 ± 11.7 | 0.01 |
| Women, n (%) | 497 (76.9) | 427 (79.1) | 70 (66.0) | 0.01 |
| Current smoker, n (%) | 136 (21.1) | 114 (21.1) | 22 (20.8) | 0.93 |
| Comorbidities*, n (%) | 460 (71.2) | 376 (69.6) | 84 (79.3) | 0.05 |
| Disease characteristics | ||||
| Disease duration, yrs | 14.3 ± 10.1 | 14.8 ± 9.9 | 11.8 ± 10.6 | 0.01 |
| RF-positive, n (%) | 424 (65.6) | 346 (64.1) | 78 (73.6) | 0.15 |
| Swollen joint count | 8.9 ± 5.8 | 8.9 ± 5.9 | 8.9 ± 5.3 | 1.00 |
| Tender joint count | 14.3 ± 7.8 | 14.3 ± 7.8 | 14.2 + 7.9 | 0.92 |
| Global health VAS | 70.0 ± 20.2 | 70.1 ± 20.5 | 69.6 ± 18.6 | 0.83 |
| CRP, mg/dl | 34.2 ± 38.0 | 33.7 ± 38.8 | 36.6 ± 33.2 | 0.64 |
| ESR, mm/h | 44.6 ± 29.9 | 44.4 ± 30.3 | 45.8 ± 28.0 | 0.70 |
| DAS28 | 6.2 ± 1.1 | 6.2 ± 1.2 | 6.2 ± 1.0 | 0.91 |
| Quality of life and physical function | ||||
| EQ5D VAS | 45.9 ± 22.6 | 45.8 ± 22.6 | 46.8 ± 22.3 | 0.66 |
| EQ5D utility score | 0.3 ± 0.3 | 0.3 ± 0.3 | 0.3 ± 0.3 | 0.60 |
| HAQ | 2.0 ± 0.6 | 2.0 ± 0.6 | 1.9 ± 0.6 | 0.21 |
| Current and previous drug use | ||||
| No. previous nbDMARD | 4.2 ± 1.8 | 4.3 ± 1.8 | 3.6 ± 1.4 | 0.0001 |
| Current nbDMARD, n (%) | ||||
| None | 143 (22.1) | 108 (20.0) | 35 (33.0) | < 0.001 |
| MTX | 343 (53.1) | 316 (58.5) | 27 (25.5) | |
| Other | 160 (24.8) | 116 (21.5) | 44 (41.5) | |
| Pervious steroids, n (%) | 485 (75.1) | 407 (75.4) | 78 (73.6) | 0.70 |
| Current steroids, n (%) | 300 (46.4) | 250 (46.3) | 50 (47.2) | 0.87 |
↵* Comorbidities include angina, hypertension, stroke, epilepsy, myocardial infarction, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, liver disease, renal disorder, peptic ulcers, diabetes, demyelination, hyperthyroidism, depression, or a history of tuberculosis or cancer.
↵† P value tests for significant differences between the cases in which anti-TNF therapy failed and anti-TNF-naive patients (2 independent samples, t-test for continuous variables, and Pearson chi-square test for categorical variables). RF: rheumatoid factor; TNF: tumor necrosis factor; RTX: rituximab; MTX: methotrexate; nbDMARD: nonbiological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs; EQ5D: European Quality of Life 5 Dimensions; ESR: erythrocyte sedimentation rate; HAQ: Health Assessment Questionnaire; DAS28: 28-joint Disease Activity Score; VAS: visual analog scale.