ArticleRheumatology international2018
Patterns of the initiation of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs in incident rheumatoid arthritis: a German perspective based on nationwide ambulatory drug prescription data.
Article in Rheumatology international, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Blood-test monitoring strategies for patients established on immune-suppressing drugs: a mixed-methods study.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2026Pooled it
- Patterns and Determinants of Time to First DMARD Prescription in US Adults with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Retrospective Cohort Study Using a Large Electronic Health Record Database.Advances in therapy · 2026Article
- Disparities in the access to and use of biologic and targeted synthetic treatments in patients with inflammatory rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases: a scoping review.EULAR rheumatology open · 2026Article
- Sex and gender differences in rheumatology: clinical impact and future directions.Nature reviews. Rheumatology · 2026Review
- [Annual report 2025 from the National Database of the Regional Collaborative Rheumatology Centers in Germany].Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2025Article
- Ageism in Rheumatology: The Health Care Professional's Perspective.Arthritis care & research · 2025Article
- Association of patient- and hospital-level predictors with patterns of initial treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: findings from a national cohort study.Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2025Article
- Gender differences in clinical and prescribing characteristics of biologic and targeted synthetic drugs in naïve patients with rheumatoid arthritis: Data from BIOBADASER III registry.Arthritis research & therapy · 2025Article
- Exploring drug utilization patterns, healthcare resource utilization, and epidemiology of rheumatoid arthritis in Colombia: a retrospective claims database study.BMC rheumatology · 2025Article
- Pharmacological pain management in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a narrative literature review.BMC medicine · 2025Review
- Real-world treatment persistence in patients with rheumatoid arthritis initiating DMARDs in Germany-a health insurance claims data analysis.Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2023Article
- Risk stratified monitoring for methotrexate toxicity in immune mediated inflammatory diseases: prognostic model development and validation using primary care data from the UK.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2023Article
- [Prescription frequency of physical therapy for inflammatory rheumatic diseases].Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2022Article
- Total Hip Replacement in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: Trends in Incidence and Complication Rates Over 35 Years.Rheumatology and therapy · 2022Article
- Treatment Patterns and Pharmacoutilization in Patients Affected by Rheumatoid Arthritis in Italian Settings.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Observational
- Determinants of first-line biological treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: Results from an observational study.Medicine · 2021Observational
- Influence of Age and Sex on Disease Course and Treatment in Rheumatoid Arthritis.Open access rheumatology : research and reviews · 2021Article
- Incidence and Complication Rates for Total Hip Arthroplasty in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Across Four Decades.Rheumatology and therapy · 2020Review
- Disease-modifying antirheumatic drug prescription patterns in adult rheumatoid arthritis patients in routine clinical practice in Spain.European journal of rheumatology · 2020Article
- Real-World Analysis of Therapeutic Patterns in Patients Affected by Rheumatoid Arthritis in Italy: A Focus on Baricitinib.Rheumatology and therapy · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This study aimed at providing a current and nearly complete picture of the patterns of the initiation of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) in patients with newly diagnosed RA. Based on ambulatory drug prescription data and physician billing claims data covering 87% of the German population, we assembled a cohort of incident RA patients aged 15-79 years (n = 54,896) and assessed the prescription frequency of total DMARDs, conventional synthetic (csDMARDs) and biologic DMARDs (bDMARDs) within the first year of disease. Using multiple logistic regression, we estimated the chance of early DMARD receipt based on age, sex, serotype and specialty of prescribing physician while controlling for region of residence. In total, 44% of incident RA patients received a DMARD prescription within the first year of disease. In multiple regression, younger patients (< 35 years) had 1.7-fold higher chances of receiving a csDMARD than patients aged ≥ 65 years [odds ratio (OR): 1.65 with 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.51-1.80] and almost tenfold higher chances to receive a bDMARD [OR (95% CI) 9.5 (8.0-11.3)]. Seropositivity and a visit to a rheumatologist were positively associated with DMARD initiation [OR (95% CI) 2.8 (2.6-2.9) and 5.9 (5.6-6.2) for csDMARDs, respectively]. Based on data covering 87% of the German population, the present study revealed that less than half of incident RA patients receive DMARDs within the first year of disease and that marked differences exist according to age. The study highlights the importance of involving a rheumatologist early in the management of RA.
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