Takeaway
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients treated with biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) including abatacept experienced reduced disease activity.
Patients receiving abatacept as the first- or second-line therapy spent significantly longer on treatment than those receiving other bDMARDs.
Why this matters
Findings warrant future studies to determine how abatacept and other bDMARDs are used in RA management during and after the pandemic.
Study design
A multicentre, retrospective, observational study of 213 patients with RA (mean age, 55.2 years; 71.4% female) treated with abatacept at any line of therapy (LOT) at 4 UK centres (2013-2017).
All patients received up to 8 LOTs.
Funding: Bristol Myers Squibb and Health Economics and Outcomes Research Ltd.
Key results
Treatment with abatacept, or any other bDMARD, was associated with reductions in disease activity score for 28 joints–erythrocyte sedimentation rate or disease activity score for 28 joints–C-reactive protein at:
6 months (LS mean: −0.04; 95% CI, −0.45 to 0.38; P=.86 and −0.16; 95% CI, −0.50 to 0.18; P=.36, respectively); and
12 months (LS mean: −0.56; 95% CI, −1.04 to −0.07; P=.03 and −0.37; 95% CI, −0.75 to 0.01; P=.06, respectively).
The distribution of European League Against Rheumatism responses (good/moderate/no response) was more favourable for patients receiving abatacept vs those receiving other bDMARDs at:
6 months (22.8%/41.3%/35.9% vs 16.6%/41.4%/42.1%); and
12 months (27.9%/36.1%/36.1% vs 21.2%/34.5%/44.2%).
Patients receiving abatacept at LOT1 (n=68; median, 53.4 vs 17.4 months) and LOT2 (n=59; median, 40.1 vs 17.1 months; P<.01 for both) spent significantly longer on treatment vs those receiving other bDMARDs.
For patients receiving abatacept at LOT1, 85.6%, 70.9% and 70.9% of patients were still in receipt of abatacept at 12, 24 and 36 months, respectively, vs 63.4%, 39.3% and 31.7% of patients receiving other bDMARDs, respectively.
Among patients who discontinued after 6 months, a greater proportion experienced infection requiring antibiotics when receiving other bDMARDs vs those receiving abatacept.
Limitations
Retrospective design.
This clinical summary originally appeared on Univadis, part of the Medscape Professional Network.
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Any views expressed above are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WebMD or Medscape.
Cite this: Sarfaroj Khan. Rheumatoid Arthritis: Treatment Patterns and Outcomes in Patients Treated With Abatacept - Medscape - Feb 10, 2021.
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