Productivity costs over 2 years of follow-up.
| Tapering csDMARDs first (n=94) | Tapering TNF-inhibitor first (n=95) | |
| Absenteeism | ||
| Unemployment | ||
| Became unemployed, n (%) | 2 (4) | 6 (11) |
| Sick leave (during 2-year follow-up) | ||
| Occurrence, n (%) | 20 (21) | 26 (27) |
| Long-term sickness, n (%) | 2 (2) | 1 (1) |
| Days absent, mean (SD)* | 9.0 (23) | 12.3 (22) |
| Contract hours† | ||
| Working hours per week after 2 years, mean (SD) | 32 (8.9) | 33 (12) |
| Reduction of working hours per week, n (%) | 8 (8) | 11 (11) |
| Amount of reduction, hours, mean (SD)‡ | 15 (11) | 19 (17) |
| Presenteeism | ||
| Number of patients, n (%) | 34 (36) | 41 (43) |
| Number of days per month, mean (SD)§ | 5.3 (0.9) | 6.1 (1.1) |
| Average productivity loss, proportion (SD)¶ | 27.9% (13%) | 26.4% (15%) |
*Only indicated when patients reported sick leave.
†Only indicated when patients had paid work.
‡Only indicated for those with a reduction in working hours.
§Average productivity score was only obtained for patients indicating that they had loss of productivity.
¶Productivity loss was indicated only for the days with productivity loss for those who reported to suffer from loss of productivity.
csDMARDs, conventional synthetic disease modifying antirheumatic drugs; TNF, tumour necrosis factor.