Blood glucose changes surrounding initiation of tumor-necrosis factor inhibitors and conventional disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs in veterans with rheumatoid arthritis

Table 1 Changes in paired A1C and random blood glucose surrounding medication-initiation events

Medication	n	Difference (mg/dL or % glycosylation)	Confidence interval		P value
Random blood glucose
Etanercept	311	-0.06	-4.91	4.79	0.98
Adalimumab	302	1.03	-3.41	5.46	0.65
Certolizumab	5	-5.20	-26.60	16.19	0.54
Golimumab	13	-17.61	-37.54	2.31	0.08
Infliximab	147	-1.90	-9.45	5.65	0.62
Methotrexate	831	2.08	-7.48	4.90	0.15
Leflunomide	290	-0.48	-6.84	5.88	0.88
Hydroxychloroquine	653	-3.68	-7.15	0.20	0.04
Sulfasalazine	335	-0.38	-4.92	4.17	0.87
Prednisone	665	5.85	2.20	9.51	< 0.01
Hemoglobin A1C
Etanercept	35	-0.17	-0.50	0.17	0.33
Adalimumab	43	0.04	-0.34	0.42	0.83
Certolizumab	1	0.20	n/a	n/a	n/a
Golimumab	4	-0.65	-3.47	2.17	0.52
Infliximab	20	-0.36	-0.95	0.23	0.22
Methotrexate	107	-0.11	-0.35	0.14	0.40
Leflunomide	51	-0.02	-0.40	0.35	0.91
Hydroxychloroquine	98	-0.15	-0.40	0.11	0.25
Sulfasalazine	49	-0.70	-1.08	0.31	< 0.01
Prednisone	68	-0.01	-0.25	0.24	0.96

n/a: Insufficient numbers to calculate.

Table 2 Multivariate regression analysis of glucose changes surrounding medication-initiation events

Predictor variable	Hemoglobin A1C				Random blood glucose
	Coefficient	Confidence interval		P value	Coefficient	Confidence interval		P value
Sex	-0.12	-0.60	0.36	0.63	1.75	-3.80	7.30	0.54
Age	0.00	-0.01	0.02	0.71	0.00	-0.16	0.15	0.98
Diabetes	0.10	-0.20	0.40	0.50	0.02	-3.33	3.36	0.99
Malignancy	-0.20	-0.50	0.09	0.17	0.54	-3.31	4.39	0.78
Coronary artery disease	0.07	-0.30	0.43	0.72	-1.48	-6.54	3.58	0.57
Congestive heart failure	-0.07	-0.37	0.22	0.62	4.69	0.45	8.92	0.03
Chronic lung disease	0.14	-0.11	0.38	0.27	-0.95	-4.16	2.27	0.56
Chronic kidney disease	-0.35	-0.78	0.07	0.11	-5.57	-12.67	1.52	0.12
Hypertension	0.01	-0.35	0.38	0.95	-0.81	-4.50	2.88	0.67
Medication (comparator is methotrexate)
Adalimumab	0.17	-0.28	0.62	0.46	-0.87	-6.83	5.09	0.78
Golimumab	-0.56	-1.81	0.70	0.39	-19.88	-44.57	4.82	0.12
Certolizumab	0.41	-2.06	2.87	0.75	-7.02	-46.55	32.51	0.73
Infliximab	-0.30	-0.90	0.30	0.32	-3.85	-11.76	4.06	0.34
Etanercept	-0.08	-0.56	0.40	0.75	-2.07	-7.97	3.84	0.49
Leflunomide	0.05	-0.37	0.47	0.81	-2.66	-8.68	3.36	0.39
Hydroxychloroquine	-0.01	-0.36	0.33	0.94	-5.78	-10.38	-1.17	0.01
Sulfasalazine	-0.58	-1.00	-0.16	0.01	-2.56	-8.26	3.15	0.38
Prednisone	0.11	-0.26	0.49	0.55	3.76	-0.82	8.34	0.11
Medication class (comparator is conventional DMARDs)
TNFi	0.06	-0.23	0.35	0.68	0.30	-3.47	4.07	0.88
Glucocorticoid	0.20	-0.13	0.53	0.23	6.32	2.40	10.24	< 0.01

DMARDs: Disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs.