Data on Rheumatoid Arthritis Reported by Christoph Fiehn and Colleagues (Real-world treatment persistence in patients with rheumatoid arthritis initiating DMARDs in Germany-a health insurance claims data analysis): Autoimmune Diseases and Conditions – Rheumatoid Arthritis

2023 FEB 22 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Autoimmune Diseases and Conditions - Rheumatoid Arthritis is the subject of a report. According to news reporting out of Baden-Baden, Germany, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “To investigate treatment patterns in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Germany who had previously received conventional synthetic (cs) or biologic (b) disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). Patients with RA who initiated treatment with a csDMARD, bDMARD, or Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor between 2017 and 2018 and who had previously received csDMARD or bDMARD therapy were retrospectively selected from the Institute for Applied Health Research Berlin GmbH (InGef).”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research, “Time on treatment and discontinuation risk were assessed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Cox regression identified variables associated with an increased discontinuation risk. A total of 990 patients had received prior csDMARD therapy; 375 had received prior bDMARD therapy. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-a inhibitors and JAK inhibitors were the most commonly prescribed DMARD class in those previously treated with a csDMARD or bDMARD, respectively. In both cohorts, more patients received DMARD monotherapy than combination therapy. In the prior csDMARD cohort, median time on treatment was 276, 252, and 148 days with JAK inhibitors, TNF-a inhibitors, and csDMARDs, respectively, and those treated with JAK or TNF-a inhibitors were less likely to discontinue treatment than those on csDMARDs (log-rank test p-value < 0.01 for both comparisons); no significant differences were found within the prior bDMARD cohort. This is among the first detailed analyses of RA treatment patterns in a real-world setting in Germany since the introduction of JAK inhibitors. TNF-a inhibitors were the most commonly prescribed DMARD after failure of an initial csDMARD, while JAK inhibitors were the most common among patients previously treated with a bDMARD. In both groups, monotherapy with bDMARD or targeted synthetic DMARD was common.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “In the prior csDMARD cohort, treatment duration was significantly longer with JAK or TNF-a inhibitors than with csDMARDs.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Real-world treatment persistence in patients with rheumatoid arthritis initiating DMARDs in Germany-a health insurance claims data analysis. Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie, 2023. Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie can be contacted at: Springer Heidelberg, Tiergartenstrasse 17, D-69121 Heidelberg, Germany.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Christoph Fiehn, Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology Baden-Baden, Beethovenstr. 2, 76530, Baden-Baden, Germany. Additional authors for this research include Silke Zinke, Jennifer S. Haas, Dominic Meise, Julia Theil, Margot Gurrath and Hans-Dieter Orzechowski.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00393-023-01323-8. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the journal Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie is: Springer Heidelberg, Tiergartenstrasse 17, D-69121 Heidelberg, Germany.

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