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Researchers identify predictive factors for discontinuance of biologics
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Researchers identified five predictive factors for the discontinuance of biologic medication by patients with chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases, according to recently published research of French patients.
Researchers studied data from 581 patients with chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases (CIRDs). Of this group, 60.4% of patients had ankylosing spondylitis (AS), 33.7% had rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 5.2% had psoriatic arthritis and 0.7% had other CIRDs and had been prescribed a biologic medication.
The most commonly reported biologics by patients were etanercept (37.4%) and adalimumab (29.8%) followed by infliximab (19.6%). Self-administration of biologics was common, and found among 72.5% of patients with AS, 58.3% of patients with RA and 76.7% for patients with other CIRDs. Side effects from biologic administration that interrupted daily life were reported by 85% of patients.
Around 74% of patients discontinued a biologic treatment at least once, with 56.7% of patients switching to another biologic, 13.1% were definitive and 30.1% restarted treatment. About 20% of discontinuations occurred as the patient’s decision, and 14.8% of patients experimented with self-discontinuation.
Univariate analysis showed factors associated with self-discontinuation were lower levels of pain, prior attempts with more than one biologic treatment, self-administration of therapy, negative beliefs about treatment, and lack of perceived medical and social support. – by Shirley Pulawski
Disclosure: The research was fielded by a grant from the French Society of Rheumatology.
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