Researchers at University of Texas Release New Data on Rheumatoid Arthritis (Examining Time to Initiation of Biologic Disease-modifying Antirheumatic…

Researchers at University of Texas Release New Data on Rheumatoid Arthritis (Examining Time to Initiation of Biologic Disease-modifying Antirheumatic Drugs and Medication Adherence and Persistence Among Texas Medicaid Recipients With Rheumatoid ...)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Current study results on Autoimmune Diseases and Disorders have been published. According to news reporting from Austin, Texas, by VerticalNews journalists, research stated, "Little is known about the transition from nonbiologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) to biologic DMARDs or about individual nonbiologic DMARD use patterns among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This study examined time to initiation of biologic DMARDs and non biologic DMARD medication adherence and persistence among Texas Medicaid recipients with RA taking nonbiologic DMARDs."

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the University of Texas, "In this retrospective study (July 1, 2003-December 31, 2010) of the Texas Medicaid database, patients were aged 18 to 62 years at index, were diagnosed with RA (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification, code 714.xx), had no claims for nonbiologic or biologic DMARDs in the preindex period, and had a minimum of 2 prescription claims for the same nonbiologic DMARD in the postindex period. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and log-rank tests were used to compare time to initiation of biologic DMARDs according to nonbiologic DMARD type and therapy. Adherence and persistence were examined according to nonbiologic type and therapy by using ANOVA models and chi(2), Duncan, and t tests. On average, patients were 47.9 (+/- 10.4) years of age, mostly female (89.1%) and Hispanic (55.2%). Methotrexate (MTX) and leflunomide (LEF) users took the shortest time to initiate biologic DMARDs (207 [190] days and 188 [205] days, respectively). LEF users had the highest mean adherence of 37.5% (27.5%), which was similar to MTX users (35.7% [26.9%]), whereas dual-therapy users had the lowest mean adherence at 17.1% (14.4%). Sulfasalazine users (108 [121] days) had the lowest persistence, whereas LEF (227 [231] days) and MTX (211 [222] days) users had the longest persistence. Nonbiologic DMARD monotherapy users were more adherent than dual-therapy users (32.6% [25.8%] vs 17.1% [14.4%]). These results should be interpreted in light of some study limitations, such as using proportion of days covered as a proxy for adherence, not having clinical data to control for RA severity, and lack of generalizability to all US populations."

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "Given the study findings, both clinicians and other decision makers may want to investigate the potential driving factors of initiation of biologic DMARDs to provide effective RA management and consider patient education programs to enhance medication adherence and persistence to RA medications."

For more information on this research see: Examining Time to Initiation of Biologic Disease-modifying Antirheumatic Drugs and Medication Adherence and Persistence Among Texas Medicaid Recipients With Rheumatoid Arthritis. Clinical Therapeutics, 2016;38(3):646-654. Clinical Therapeutics can be contacted at: Elsevier, 685 Route 202-206, Bridgewater, NJ 08807, USA. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Clinical Therapeutics - www.journals.elsevier.com/clinical-therapeutics/)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting G.W. Kim, Univ Texas Austin, Coll Pharm, Hlth Outcomes & Pharm Practice Div, 2409 Univ AveSTOP A1930, Austin, TX 78712, United States. Additional authors for this research include J.C. Barner, K. Rascati and K. Richards.

Keywords for this news article include: Antirheumatics, Texas, Austin, Therapy, Medicaid, United States, Health Policy, Joint Diseases, Post-Trial Research, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Musculoskeletal Diseases, North and Central America, Clinical Trials and Studies, Autoimmune Diseases and Disorders

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