Descriptive characteristics of patients with RA tested with the MBDA, stratified by level of disease activity (N = 60,596).
| MBDA Score Category | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Low, < 30 | Moderate, 30–44 | High, > 44 | |
| Demographics | |||
| Age, yrs, mean ± SD | 66.4 ± 11.3 | 69.4 ± 10.2 | 69.7 ± 10.5 |
| Female, % | 74.0 | 79.1 | 80.5 |
| Low income, % | 30.9 | 26.5 | 27.8 |
| Disability (as reason for Medicare entitlement), % | 40.4 | 35.5 | 38.8 |
| Comorbidities, % | |||
| Fibromyalgia | 18.4 | 17.8 | 16.5 |
| Diabetes | 15.6 | 19.6 | 24.8 |
| Chronic pulmonary disease | 14.2 | 17.8 | 23.8 |
| Obesity (as a diagnosis) | 3.6 | 5.2 | 6.8 |
| Charlson comorbidity index | |||
| 0 | 7.6 | 6.1 | 4.7 |
| 1 | 51.1 | 44.5 | 37.7 |
| 2 | 22.6 | 23.6 | 24.6 |
| 3+ | 18.7 | 25.8 | 33.0 |
| Medication, % | |||
| TNFi biologic | 37.4 | 30.1 | 23.4 |
| Non-TNFi biologic or JAK inhibitor | 13.2 | 16.7 | 21.5 |
| Methotrexate | 49.1 | 51.0 | 48.2 |
| HCQ, LEF, SSZ | 36.5 | 36.4 | 36.0 |
| Oral glucocorticoids | 31.3 | 37.9 | 50.7 |
| Health services use | |||
| No. ambulatory visits (%) | 8.0 (5.5) | 8.5 (5.7) | 9.4 (6.3) |
| Any hospitalization, % | 6.2 | 8.5 | 14.1 |
All differences are significant at p < 0.0001 except for the comparison of HCQ/LEF/SSZ, which was not significant. RA: rheumatoid arthritis; MBDA: multi-biomarker disease activity; TNFi: tumor necrosis factor inhibitor; JAK: Janus kinase; HCQ: hydroxychloroquine; SSZ: sulfasalazine; LEF: leflunomide.