Table 4: Initial and cumulative pharmacologic treatments in RA patients receiving early and late treatment with DMARDs.

Medications Initial treatment Cumulative treatment
Early treatment
(n=121)
%
Late treatment
(n=266)
%
p value Early treatment
(n=121)
%
Late treatment
(n=266)
%
p value
NSAIDs 52.9 59.0 0.259 84.3 86.8 0.503
Corticosteroids 50.4 48.9 0.779 73.3 79.0 0.224
Conventional DMARDs
Methotrexate 57.8 63.0 0.334 83.5 86.5 0.438
Hydroxychloroquine 40.8 34.1 0.205 57.0 53.4 0.505
Sulfazalazine 5.8 4.9 0.730 15.7 16.5 0.836
Leflunomide 0.0 1.1 0.241 3.3 5.3 0.397
Azathioprine 0.0 1.1 0.240 2.5 4.1 0.415
Cyclophosphamide 0.0 0.0 --- 0.8 0.8 0.938
Gold salts 4.1 2.7 0.450 7.4 8.7 0.689
Biologic agents
TNF-α blockers 10.7 11.6 0.794 52.1 48.5 0.515
Abatacept 0.0 0.8 0.341 5.0 7.5 0.351
Rituximab 0.0 0.0 --- 0.0 0.8 0.339
Tocilizumab 0.0 0.0 --- 0.8 0.0 0.138
Small molecules
Tofacitinib 0.0 0.0 --- 0.0 0.38 0.499
Drug combinations
NSAIDs + DMARDs 50.4 56.0 0.305 80.2 84.2 0.327
NSAIDs + biologics 4.1 3.8 0.860 44.6 41.7 0.593
Corticosteroids + DMARDs 47.1 47.0 0.983 67.8 75.6 0.109
Corticosteroids + biologics 5.0 3.4 0.457 38.8 41.4 0.641
DMARDs + biologics 5.0 4.2 0.714 47.1 44.0 0.567

RA: Rheumatoid Arthritis; NSAIDs: Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs; DMARDs: Disease-Modifying Anti-rheumatic Drugs; TNF-α: Tumor Necrosis Factor-α