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Kalyoncu U, Pehlivan Y, Akar S, Kaşifoğlu T, Kimyon G, Karadağ Ö, Dalkılıç HE, Ertenli Aİ, Kılıç L, Ersözlü D, Bes C, Emmungil H, Mercan R, Ediboğlu ED, Kanıtez N, Bilgin E, Çolak S, Koca SS, Gönüllü E, Küçükşahin O, Coşkun N, Yağız B, Kiraz S. Preferences of inflammatory arthritis patients for biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs in the first 100 days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Turk J Med Sci 2021; 51:1615-1623. [PMID: 33611869 PMCID: PMC8569786 DOI: 10.3906/sag-2012-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2020] [Accepted: 02/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Background/aim To evaluate treatment adherence and predictors of drug discontinuation among patients with inflammatory arthritis
receiving bDMARDs within the first 100 days after the announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and methods A total of 1871 patients recorded in TReasure registry for whom advanced therapy was prescribed for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or spondyloarthritis (SpA) within the 3 months (6–9 months for rituximab) before the declaration of COVID-19 pandemic were evaluated, and 1394 (74.5%) responded to the phone survey. Patients’ data regarding demographic, clinical characteristics and disease activity before the pandemic were recorded. The patients were inquired about the diagnosis of COVID-19, the rate of continuation on bDMARDs, the reasons for treatment discontinuation, if any, and the current general disease activity (visual analog scale, [VAS]). Results A total of 1394 patients (493 RA [47.3% on anti-TNF] patients and 901 SpA [90.0% on anti-TNF] patients) were included in the study. Overall, 2.8% of the patients had symptoms suggesting COVID-19, and 2 (0.15%) patients had PCR-confirmed COVID-19. Overall, 18.1% of all patients (13.8% of the RA and 20.5% of the SpA; p = 0.003) discontinued their bDMARDs. In the SpA group, the patients who discontinued bDMARDs were younger (40 [21–73] vs. 44 years [20–79]; p = 0.005) and had higher general disease activity; however, no difference was relevant for RA patients. Conclusion Although the COVID-19 was quite uncommon in the first 100 days of the pandemic, nearly one-fifth of the patients discontinued bDMARDs within this period. The long-term effects of the pandemic should be monitored.
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Affiliation(s)
- Umut Kalyoncu
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Hacettepe University, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey
| | - Yavuz Pehlivan
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Uludağ University, Faculty of Medicine, Bursa, Turkey
| | - Servet Akar
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, İzmir Katip Çelebi University, Faculty of Medicine, İzmir, Turkey
| | - Timuçin Kaşifoğlu
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Eskişehir, Turkey
| | - Gezmiş Kimyon
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Hatay Mustafa Kemal University, Hatay, Turkey
| | - Ömer Karadağ
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Hacettepe University, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey
| | - Hüseyin Ediz Dalkılıç
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Uludağ University, Faculty of Medicine, Bursa, Turkey
| | - Ali İhsan Ertenli
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Hacettepe University, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey
| | - Levent Kılıç
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Hacettepe University, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey
| | - Duygu Ersözlü
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Ministry of Health Adana City Training and Research Hospital, Adana, Turkey
| | - Cemal Bes
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Başakşehir Çam and Sakura City Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey
| | - Hakan Emmungil
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Trakya University, Edirne, Turkey
| | - Rıdvan Mercan
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University, Tekirdağ, Turkey
| | - Elif Durak Ediboğlu
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, İzmir Katip Çelebi University, Faculty of Medicine, İzmir, Turkey
| | - Nilüfer Kanıtez
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Koç University, İstanbul, Turkey
| | - Emre Bilgin
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Hacettepe University, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey
| | - Seda Çolak
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Gulhane Faculty of Medicine, University of Health Sciences, Ankara, Turkey
| | - Süleyman Serdar Koca
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Fırat University, Elazığ, Turkey
| | - Emel Gönüllü
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Sakarya University, Sakarya, Turkey
| | - Orhan Küçükşahin
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Yıldırım Beyazıt University, Ankara, Turkey
| | - Nihan Coşkun
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Uludağ University, Faculty of Medicine, Bursa, Turkey
| | - Burcu Yağız
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Uludağ University, Faculty of Medicine, Bursa, Turkey
| | - Sedat Kiraz
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Hacettepe University, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey
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