Table 1 Prevalence of use of adjuvant therapies for incident cases receiving DMARDs and individuals receiving biologics, 6 months pre-post
From: Claims for disease-modifying therapy by Alberta non-insured health benefits clients
Incident DMARD users (n = 456) | Biologic users (n = 229)a | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
6 months prior to DMARD start | 6 months following DMARD start | p value | 6 months prior to biologic start | 6 months following biologic start | p value | |
Acetaminophen | 21 (4.6 %) | 21 (4.6 %) | 1.0000 | 29 (12.7 %) | 27 (11.8 %) | 0.8 |
NSAIDs | 162 (35.5 %) | 165 (36.2 %) | 0.8682 | 160 (69.9 %) | 140 (61.1 %) | 0.002 |
Opioids | 95 (20.8 %) | 113 (24.8 %) | 0.0918 | 154 (67.3 %) | 147 (64.2 %) | 0.2 |
Oral Steroids | 100 (21.9 %) | 142 (31.1 %) | 0.0001 | 104 (45.4 %) | 77 (33.6 %) | <0.001 |
Parenteral Steroids | 13 (2.9 %) | 22 (4.8 %) | 0.1221 | 37 (16.2 %) | 19 (8.3 %) | 0.002 |