Time trends in proportion of patients on prednisolone at baseline and after 6 months and prednisolone dose mg/day
| Proportion of patients on prednisolone (%(n)) | 2000–2002 | 2003–2004 | 2005–2006 | 2007–2008 | 2009–2010 | p Value* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MTX mono (n=1866) | ||||||
| Baseline | 49.0 (172) | 44.7 (207) | 45.9 (181) | 62.3 (223) | 60.7 (182) | 0.003 |
| 6 months | 32.5 (114) | 29.4 (136) | 30.2 (119) | 35.2 (126) | 21.7 (65) | 0.002 |
| TNFi+MTX (n=707) | ||||||
| Baseline | 56.5 (48) | 51.1 (94) | 48.3 (69) | 49.4 (79) | 49.6 (67) | 0.32 |
| 6 months | 35.3 (30) | 26.1 (48) | 28.0 (40) | 28.8 (46) | 14.8 (20) | <0.001 |
| Prednisolone dose mg/day (mean(SD))† | p Value‡ | |||||
| MTX mono (n=1866) | ||||||
| Baseline | 8.9 (3.6) | 9.1 (4.5) | 8.9 (4.0) | 8.9 (3.7) | 9.2 (4.1) | 0.37 |
| 6 months | 6.0 (2.8) | 5.6 (2.5) | 5.7 (3.2) | 5.4 (2.5) | 5.6 (2.7) | 0.44 |
| TNFi+MTX (n=707) | ||||||
| Baseline | 8.0 (3.4) | 7.2 (3.0) | 7.5 (3.3) | 7.9 (4.9) | 7.1 (3.6) | 0.17 |
| 6 months | 5.8 (2.9) | 5.5 (2.5) | 5.3 (2.4) | 5.7 (3.0) | 5.7 (2.7) | 0.45 |
*χ2 test first versus last period.
†Mean doses among the patients who used prednisolone.
‡Two-sample t test first versus last period.
MTX, methotrexate; TNFi, tumour necrosis factor inhibitor.