CHARACTERISTICS OF PATIENTS STARTING BIOLOGIC TREATMENTS FOR RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS IN THE REAL WORLD- SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
Author(s)
Kilcher G, Didden E, Hummel N, Egger M
University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Presentation Documents
OBJECTIVES: To assess demographic and disease characteristics of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients starting treatment with biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) in observational studies. METHODS: Systematic review of published observational studies in adult patients with RA treated with one of three biologic DMARDs (etanercept, rituximab, tocilizumab). We identified eligible studies through electronic searches of the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases. Two reviewers screened the articles independently. We extracted study characteristics such as location and calendar period, demographics of study populations, dose, frequency and concomitant therapies, and baseline characteristics such as disease duration, disease activity and lab measurements. RESULTS: CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review of data from observational studies and clinical databases indicates that the characteristics of RA patients starting biological DMARDs outside clinical trials in the real world varied widely. These observational data will now be compared with clinical trial data but it seems likely that some patient groups were not well represented in the trials.
Conference/Value in Health Info
2015-11, ISPOR Europe 2015, Milan, Italy
Value in Health, Vol. 18, No. 7 (November 2015)
Code
PMS135
Topic
Study Approaches
Topic Subcategory
Registries
Disease
Musculoskeletal Disorders