We thank the participants of the study.

Acknowledgements ESPOIR: An unrestricted grant from Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD) was allocated for the first 5 years. Two additional grants from INSERM were obtained to support part of the biological database. The French Society of Rheumatology, Pfizer, Abbvie, Lilly, and more recently Fresenius and Galapagos also supported the ESPOIR cohort study. We also wish to thank Nathalie Rincheval (Montpellier) who did expert monitoring and data management and all the investigators who recruited and followed the patients (F. Berenbaum, Paris-Saint Antoine, MC. Boissier, Paris-Bobigny, A. Cantagrel, Toulouse, B. Combe , Montpellier, M. Dougados, Paris-Cochin, P. Fardellone and P. Boumier Amiens, B. Fautrel, Paris-La Pitié, RM. Flipo, Lille , Ph. Goupille, Tours, F. Liote, Paris- Lariboisière, O. Vittecoq, Rouen, X. Mariette, Paris Bicetre, P. Dieude, Paris Bichat, A. Saraux, Brest, T. Schaeverbeke, Bordeaux, J. Sibilia, Strasbourg). One biological resources centre (Sarah Tubiana, Paris-Bichat) was in charge of centralising and managing biological data collection.

Acknowledgements DESIR: The DESIR cohort is conducted with Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Paris (AP-HP, Paris France) as the sponsor and under the umbrella of the French Society of Rheumatology. The DESIR cohort is run with the support of unrestricted grants from (in order of decreasing support) Pfizer France, Biogen, AbbVie, UCB, Lilly, Galapagos, Novartis, MSD, Fresenius and Celltrion HealthCare. We thank the Clinical Research Unit Paris Centre (AP-HP, Paris France), and the Institut national de la sante et de la recherche medicale (Inserm). We also thank the investigators: Pr Maxime Dougados, Pr André Kahan, Dr Julien Wipff and Dr Anna Molto (Paris-Cochin), Pr Olivier Meyer, Pr Philippe Dieudé (Paris-Bichat), Pr Pierre Bourgeois, Pr Laure Gossec (Paris-La Pitie-Salpétriere), Pr Francis Berenbaum (Paris-Saint-Antoine), Pr Pascal Claudepierre (Creteil), Pr Maxime Breban, Pr Maria-Antonietta D’Agostino, Pr Félicie Costantino (Boulogne-Billancourt), Pr Michel De Bandt, Dr Bernadette Saint-Marcoux (Aulnay-sous-Bois), Pr Philippe Goupille (Tours), Pr Jean-Françis Maillefert (Dijon), Pr Xavier Puechal, Dr Emmanuelle Dernis (Le Mans), Pr Daniel Wendling, Pr Clément Prati (Besançon), Pr Bernard Combe, Pr Cédric Lukas (Montpellier), Pr Liana Euller-Ziegler, Pr Véronique Breuil (Nice), Pr Pascal Richette (Paris Lariboisière), Pr Pierre Lafforgue, Pr Thao Pham (Marseille), Pr Patrice Fardellone, Dr Patrick Boumier, Dr Pauline Lasselin (Amiens), Pr Jean-Michel Ristori, Pr Martin Soubrier, Pr Anne Tournadre (Clermont-Ferrand), Dr Nadia Mehsen (Bordeaux), Pr Damien Loeuille (Nancy), Pr Rene-Marc Flipo (Lille), Pr Alain Saraux (Brest), Pr Corinne Miceli, Dr Stephan Pavy (Le Kremlin-Bicêtre), Pr Alain Cantagrel, Pr Adeline Ruyssen-Witrand (Toulouse), Pr Olivier Vittecoq, Pr Thierry Lequerre (Rouen). The biological resources center (Paris, Bichat Hospital Claude Bernard – CRB BCB, Certificate number 34457, S. Tubiana) was in charge of centralizing and managing biological data collection. We thank the Biological Resource Center of Bichat Hospital (Paris France).