Adalimumab and etanercept adherence, persistence and switch in the treatment of psoriatic arthritis: 10-year real-life analysis

Adherence, persistence and switching rates of apixaban, dabigatran and rivaroxaban in non-valvular atrial fibrillation: a multicentre real-life analysis at 3 years

INTRODUCTION

Adherence to and persistence with long-term treatment with oral anticoagulants play a significant role in preventing adverse events and mortality in patients with cardiac conditions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the adherence, persistence and switching rate at 3 years in real-life patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation receiving treatment with first-line new oral anticoagulants.

METHODS

The study assessed all patients treated with drugs with the ATC codes B01AA, B01AE, B01AF and dispensed in pharmacies in the Lanciano-Vasto-Chieti and Pescara Local Health Units from 1 January 2011 to 30 September 2021. Adherence was calculated as the proportion of days covered; persistence was calculated as the difference in days between the start and end of treatment; and the switching rate was calculated as the difference in days between the start of treatment and the switch.

RESULTS

A total of 4270 patients were analysed. The absolute adherence figure at 3 years was 0.85. The lowest adherence levels were found in patients treated with dabigatran with an absolute value of 0.72, while the highest levels were found in patients treated with rivaroxaban with an absolute value at 3 years of 0.88. The persistence curves at 3 years of treatment with dabigatran showed a statistically significant difference (p<0.0001) compared with those of rivaroxaban and apixaban.

CONCLUSIONS

The data collected over a 3-year period showed that adherence and persistence levels and switch data were optimal and comparable in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation receiving treatment with either rivaroxaban or apixaban. In contrast, patients treated with dabigatran had worrying adherence and persistence levels.

Challenges in the Management of Psoriatic Arthritis in Latin America: A Systematic Review

PURPOSE

In 2020, the International League of Associations for Rheumatology published recommendations for managing psoriatic arthritis (PsA), aiming to adapt the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis and the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology recommendations to low-income countries. At that time, the paucity of clinical studies examining the management of patients with PsA in Latin America was remarked on by the international working group. Therefore, the primary objective of this systematic literature review was to investigate the main challenges in managing PsA in Latin America as described in recent publications.

METHODS

A systematic literature review of trials reporting at least one challenge/difficulty in the management of PsA in Latin America was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. References published in the PubMed, EMBASE, and LILACS (Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature) databases between 1980 and February 2023 were included. The selection of references was conducted independently by 2 researchers in the Rayyan Qatar Computing Research Institute program. Two other reviewers independently extracted data. All challenges were noted and categorized into domains. Data analysis was descriptive.

FINDINGS

The search strategy yielded 2085 references, with 21 studies included in the final analysis. Most studies were conducted in Brazil (66.6%; n = 14) and were observational studies (100%; N = 21). Difficulties faced by PsA patients and physicians included the high incidence of opportunistic infections (described in 42.8% of the publications; n = 9), followed by nonadherence to therapy, discordance between patients and physicians regarding remission rates, low drug persistence, limited access to disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, issues related to the storage of biologic drugs, elevated cost of biologic drugs, limited access to medical care, diagnostic delay, and the individual- and country-level impact of socioeconomic factors on work- and health-related outcomes.

IMPLICATIONS

Challenges in the management of PsA in Latin America extend beyond the care of opportunistic infections, encompassing several other socioeconomic factors. More research is needed to better understand the peculiarities of treating PsA in Latin America to improve patient care. PROSPERO identifier: CRD42021228297.

Real-World Safety Profile of Biologics Used in Rheumatology: A Six-Year Observational Pharmacovigilance Study in the Calabria Region

Background: The introduction of biological agents into the clinical armamentarium has modified the management of moderate-severe inflammatory arthritis (IA). However, these drugs can lead to serious adverse events (SAEs) and unpredictable adverse events (AEs) that are difficult to detect in pre-marketing clinical trials. This pharmacovigilance project aimed to study the AEs associated with biologics use in rheumatology. Methods: The current investigation is a multicenter, prospective, observational cohort study based on the Calabria Biologics Pharmacovigilance Program. Patients treated with one biologic agent from January 2016 to January 2022 were enrolled. Results: Overall, 729 (86.3%) of a total of 872 patients did not develop AEs or SAEs, whereas 143 (16.4%) patients experienced at least one AE, of which 16 (1.8%) had at least one SAE. The most common AEs were administration site conditions followed by gastrointestinal, nervous system and skin disorders. We reported a total of 173 switches and 156 swaps. Switches mainly occurred for inefficacy (136; 77.7%), whereas only 39 (22.3%) were due to the onset of an AE. Primary/secondary failure was the most frequent reason for swaps (124, 79%), while AEs onset led to 33 (21%) swaps. Conclusions: This study supports the validity of our program in monitoring and detecting AEs in the rheumatological area, confirming the positive beneficial/risk ratio of biologics.

Patient educational needs and challenges in psoriatic arthritis

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

To provide an overview of the recent research publications on educational needs of patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and the associated challenges.

RECENT FINDINGS

The rate of good treatment adherence in PsA can be as low as 57.7% and successful patient education can help improve treatment adherence. Also, 78.7% of patients who stopped their disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic did so without the advice of their clinician. In delivering educational needs, the aspects of disease process, treatment, self-help measures, managing pain, movement, psychological and social needs should all be addressed, whilst at the same time, recognising that PsA patients with multidomain disease, are likely to be dealing with more than just pain. Arthritis self-care management education is potentially beneficial, but up to 11% of educational YouTube videos may contain misleading patient opinion and many existing apps do not meet the needs of the patients with PsA.

SUMMARY

Significant room for improvement exists in treatment adherence in PsA and patient education addressing the relevant educational needs could assist with this issue. However, patients should be advised to be wary of internet videos and other educational aids that were not created by health professionals.

Medication adherence and persistence of psoriatic arthritis patients treated with biological therapy in a specialty pharmacy in Brazil: a prospective observational study

Background:

Pharmaceutical services in Brazil provide access, supply, and rational use of drugs for all population and an effort has been made to improve the quality of these services. Biological drugs are high-cost drugs supplied in Brazil that can inhibit disease progression and improve the quality of life of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients. However, some patients did not achieve therapeutic goals.

Objective:

To evaluate the medication adherence and persistence of PsA patients treated with tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (anti-TNF) drugs and their associated factors.

Methods:

A prospective observational study was performed at a single-specialty pharmacy in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Medication adherence, persistence, and clinical outcomes were evaluated at 12 months of follow-up. Medication persistence was historically compared to overall PsA patients treated in Brazil. Associated factors were identified through log-binomial regression.

Results:

One hundred ninety-seven PsA patients were included in the study, of whom 147 (74.6%) and 142 (72.1%) had medication adherence and persistence, respectively. Patients treated with infliximab presented the highest adherence (90.5%) and persistence rate (95.2%) in comparison to patients treated with other drugs, except for adalimumab versus infliximab for adherence outcome. All clinical measures significantly improved in patients with medication adherence and persistence. Medication persistence was higher for patients attended by specialty pharmacy than other PsA patients in Brazil. The associated factors to higher medication adherence were lower disease activity by BASDAI, being non-white race, and intravenous drug use. The associated factors to higher medication persistence were lower disease activity by Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Activity Index (BASDAI), intravenous drug use, non-use of corticoids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and comorbidity.

Conclusions:

Patients with medication adherence and persistence had significant improvements in clinical measures, functionality, and quality of life. High medication adherence and persistence to biological therapy were observed and associated with lesser disease activity at baseline. Also, medication persistence to PsA patients attended in specialty pharmacy was higher than the overall PsA population in Brazil, which indicates the importance of pharmaceutical services to provide health care and promote the effectiveness and safety of biological therapies.

A 12-point recommendation framework to support advancement of the multidisciplinary care of psoriatic arthritis: A call to action

OBJECTIVE

Making a differential diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is not straightforward. This is partly because of its heterogeneous presentation and partly because many patients with PsA are initially diagnosed with psoriasis and treated in primary care or by dermatologists, with referral to rheumatologists being delayed. Once diagnosed, optimal disease control requires frequent specialist monitoring, adjustment or switching of therapies, and management of comorbidities and concomitant diseases, as well as attention to patients' overall well-being. Given the breadth of expertise that diagnosis and management of PsA requires, we sought to define a collaborative, structured framework that supports the optimisation of multidisciplinary care for patients with PsA in Europe.

METHODS

An expert panel comprising four rheumatologists, three dermatologists, two specialist nurses and one psychologist-from Spain, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Germany, France and Italy-met face-to-face to take part in a modified Delphi exercise.

RESULTS

The result of this exercise is a set of recommendations that are based on combining published evidence with the panel's extensive clinical experience. Recommendations can be implemented in a number of ways, but the central call-to-action of this framework is the need for improved collaboration between dermatologists (or primary care physicians) and rheumatologists. This could occur in a variety of different formats: standard referral pathways, multidisciplinary physician meetings to discuss patient cases, or 'one stop', combined clinics.

CONCLUSION

We anticipate that when the majority of patients with PsA receive regular multidisciplinary care, improved patient outcomes will follow, although robust research is needed to explore this assumption.

Safety Profile of Biologics Used in Rheumatology: An Italian Prospective Pharmacovigilance Study

Post-marketing surveillance activities are essential to detect the risk/benefit profile of biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) in inflammatory arthritis. The aim of this study was to evaluate adverse events (AEs) in patients treated with bDMARDs in rheumatology during a prospective pharmacovigilance study from 2016 to 2018. Descriptive statistical analyses were performed to evaluate bDMARDs-related variables of patients without AEs/failures vs patients with AEs and failures. The risk profile among biologics was assessed by comparing patients treated with each bDMARD to patients treated with etanercept. A total of 1155 patients were enrolled, mostly affected by rheumatoid arthritis (46.0%). AEs and failures were experienced by 8.7% and 23.3%, respectively. The number of comorbidities significantly influenced the onset of AEs, while anxiety-depressive, gastrointestinal disease, and fibromyalgia influenced onset of failures. The probability of developing an AE was significantly lower in patients treated with secukinumab, while the probability of developing treatment failure was significantly lower in patients treated with golimumab, secukinumab and tocilizumab. A total of 216 AEs were reported (25.5% serious), mostly regarding infections (21.8%), musculoskeletal (17.6%) and skin (16.2%) disorders. Serious AEs included neutropenia (12.7%), lymphocytosis (9.1%) and uveitis (7.3%). The obtained results revealed known AEs but real-world data should be endorsed for undetected safety concerns.