Comparison of the baseline RA patient characteristics.

Median (interquartile range (IQR)). aThe Kruskal-Wallis test. bThe chi-square test. cThe Mann-Whitney U test. *Statistical significance (P<0.05) was determined using the Kruskal-Wallis test for differences among the three groups. There was a significant difference between the patients treated without biologics and those treated with tocilizumab (P<0.05), according to the Steel-Dwass method. **Statistical significance (P<0.05) was calculated using the Mann-Whitney U test. ***Statistical significance (P<0.01) was calculated using Kruskal-Wallis test for differences among the three groups. There were significant differences between the patients treated without biologics and those treated with tocilizumab (P<0.01) and between the patients treated with TNF inhibitors and those treated with tocilizumab (P<0.01), according to the Steel-Dwass method. MTX, methotrexate; TNF, tumor necrosis factor; RA, rheumatoid arthritis.