OBJECTIVES:

To estimate the healthcare resource consumption of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients treated with certolizumab pegol (CZP) during routine clinical practice in France.

METHODS:

ECLAIR was a prospective, non-interventional, multicenter study conducted in France over three years (2014–2017), in patients with moderate-to-severe, active RA starting first-line treatment with CZP followed during routine clinical practice.

This study recruited 170 rheumatologists and 6 internal medicine specialists, and was designed to be representative of the French RA population. Of the 792 enrolled patients, 733 formed the full analysis set (FAS). Here, we describe the frequency of physician consultations, nurse and physiotherapist visits, hospitalisation/emergency room visits and medical procedures for the FAS. Data are reported for patients with 12-month, 24-month and 36-month visit data.

RESULTS:

In the FAS, healthcare provider consultations related to RA decreased with time; these were reported in 44.6% (243/545), 40.3% (184/457) and 37.4% (82/219) of patients with 12-, 24- and 36-month visit data, respectively. These consultations were mainly performed by rheumatologists and general practitioners. Hospitalisations >1 day in length and emergency room visits also declined with time and were reported, respectively, in 13.0% (71/545) and 7.5% (41/545) of patients with 12-month data; 10.1% (46/457) and 2.4% (11/457) of patients with 24-month data, and 11.4% (25/219) and 2.7% (6/219) of patients with 36-month data. Medical procedures (including magnetic resonance imaging, computerised tomography scans, and scintigraphy) also decreased with time, reported in 47.3% (258/545), 46.0% (210/457) and 32.9% (72/219) of patients documented at 12, 24 and 36 months, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS:

This was the first prospective, real-world study of an anti-TNF conducted in France, and provides insight on healthcare resource consumption in RA patients treated with CZP. As consultations did not influence the likelihood of patient drop-out, results suggest a decline in resource consumption over time, including physician consultations, hospitalisations/emergency room visits, and medical procedures.