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Latin American rheumatoid arthritis patients received DMARDs early
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Most patients with early rheumatoid arthritis in a multinational Latin American cohort received disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs within 3 months of their first clinical visit, according to study data.
Researchers evaluated 1,093 patients (mean age, 46.5 years; 85% women; 76% rheumatoid factor positive) diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis for less than 1 year from 46 centers in 14 Latin American countries. Clinical data, laboratory assessments and prescription types were collected at baseline and at 3, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months of follow-up. Hand and foot X-rays were taken at baseline, 12 and 24 months. Baseline data for therapy corresponded with the period between disease onset and second visits at 3 months.
The mean disease duration for patients at first visit was 5.8 months. Within 3 months of baseline, 75% of patients were assigned disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). Methotrexate (MTX) alone or in combination was used most frequently (60.5%), followed by antimalarials (32.1%; chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine), sulfasalazine (7.1%) and leflunomide (4%).
Within 30 days of their first visit, 43% percent of patients received initial DMARDs. Twenty-six percent of patients received combination therapy, most commonly MTX and chloroquine (45%), MTX and hydroxychloroquine (25%) and MTX and sulfasalazine (16%). Biologics were assigned to 11% of patients and corticosteroids were given to 64% of patients, of which 80% received 10 mg oral prednisone or less.
“Our results provide robust information that early-RA patients … are treated following local and international guidelines despite their great diversity,” the researchers said, adding that study drawbacks included a lack of therapeutic protocols.
“It is difficult to know if [the cohort] represents the clinical situation of the treatment of RA in Latin America,” they concluded. “This information will be very useful for health care planners, and these data can be applied for future comparisons to evaluate treatment trends of RA in our region.”
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