Biological Treatment Patterns in Patients with Inflammatory Joint Diseases. Retrospective Study with 4 Years Follow-up.

OBJECTIVES: To describe the therapeutic management of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA) and Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) in patients initiating treatment with biological agents.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Observational, retrospective, longitudinal study in 33 Spanish hospitals. Patients with RA, PsA and AS starting treatment with biological agents between September 2009 and August 2010 and a follow-up longer than 3 years were included. Clinical-demographic characteristics, drugs, biological therapy survival, and reasons for discontinuation or switching were analyzed.

RESULTS: Four hundred and sixty-three patients were included (183 RA, 119 PsA and 161 AS), with a mean follow-up of 3.8 years. At the end of follow-up, a high proportion continued with the first biological prescribed (41.0% of RA, 59.7% of PsA and 51.6% of AS), 31.1%, 47.9% and 42.9% of RA, PsA and AS patients requiring dosage adjustments, respectively. There was temporary discontinuation in 8.2%, 8.4% and 15.5% of patients, and a switch of biologic agent was required in 37.7%, 26.1% and 24.2%. Definitive discontinuation occurred in 13.1%, 5.9% and 8.7% of RA, PsA and AS patients, respectively. Mean time to discontinuation or switching was 30.1 months for RA and 35.7 months for PsA and AS.

CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that, in practice, half of patients with RA and two thirds with PsA or AS maintained the first biological, but with frequent dose adjustments.