OBJECTIVES: Real-world/health economic (RW/HE) studies have gained increasing interest for health-care decision-making purposes, as demonstrated by the increasing proportion of RW/HE publications in clinical journals in major therapeutic areas over the past 10-15 years. Yet, little is known about of RW/HE publications in rheumatology. This study quantifies the publication of RW/HE studies in clinical rheumatology journals over the past 15 years.

METHODS: Five major rheumatology clinical journals (Annals of Rheumatic Disease, Journal of Rheumatology, Arthritis and Rheumatism, Rheumatology, and Clinical Rheumatology) were selected based on impact factor (high), publication volume (high) and clinical editorial focus. The selection of journals was researched using EMBASE to identify published RW/HE original research articles – as defined by ISPOR – using a search string based on previously published recommendations. RW/HE publications were quantified as a proportion of the total number publications in each journal and overall. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were used to compare changes over 2002–2007–2012–2017.

RESULTS: Among included clinical journals, the overall proportion of RW/HE publications increased during the study period; 8.0% in 2002, 10.8% in 2007, 15.7% in 2012, and 24.7% in 2017 (p<0.001). Similar patterns were observed across individual clinical journals. The strongest increase was observed in the last 5 years with a growth rate of RW/HE publications of 57.5%.

CONCLUSIONS: During the period 2002-2017, the proportion of RW/HE publications in included rheumatology clinical journals increased over time. These results confirm the publication trends observed in other major therapeutic areas and suggest the increasing willingness and interest of clinical journals in publishing RW/HE evidence for health-care decision-making purposes.