Journal Article

POS0671 PROFILE AND MANAGEMENT OF D2T-RA PATIENTS IN THE ITALIAN GISEA REGISTRY

Rossini, M., Santo, L., Cantatore, F. P., Floris, A., Govoni, M., Atzeni, F., Scalvini, A., Chimenti, M. S., Caporali, R. F., Morrone, M., Gremese, E., Foti, R., Lapadula, G., Fornaro, M., Bazzani, C., Parisi, S., Semeraro, A., Biggioggero, M., Corrado, A., Bugatti, S., Cozzini, F., Iannone, F., Cauli, A., Guiducci, S., Lomater, C., Ferraccioli, G., Ramonda, R., Congia, M., Conti, F., Gorla, R., Frediani, B., Mancuso, S.

2024

Overview

Background:Nowadays, numerous therapeutic options are available for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and the number of patients achieving remission has significantly increased. However, some patients have a disease defined by EULAR as “difficult-to-treat”1 (D2T), which today represents a new challenge for rheumatologists.Objectives:The primary objective was to evaluate the characteristics of the D2T-RA population recorded in the Italian GISEA registry undergoing treatment with b/tsDMARDs. The secondary objective was to assess the effectiveness and changes at 6 and 12 months in disease outcomes, stratifying the analysis by different mechanisms of action.Methods:For this study, data from RA patients treated with b/tsDMARDs recorded in the Italian GISEA registry from January 2017 to December 2023 were analyzed. Disease activity scores and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) were recorded at baseline, and at six- and twelve-month follow-up. D2T-RA patients were defined by meeting these three criteria: 1) failure of ≥ 2 b/tsDMARDs (with different mechanisms of action); 2) signs suggestive of active/progressive disease (at least moderate disease activity according to disease activity scores and/or glucocorticoid treatment ≥ 7.5 mg/day prednisone or equivalent); 3) patient VAS (Visual Analogue Scale) pain and/or PtGA (Patient Global Assessment) and/or PhGA (Physician Global Assessment) > 20. The retention rates were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared with log-rank test, while repeated measures ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) was used to assess changes in disease activity and PROs during follow-up.Results:The GISEA cohort included 5251 treatment lines with b/tsDMARDs. We were able to assess the D2T category for 3439 cases at the start of a new treatment. Overall, 1060 (30.8%) patients met all three criteria for D2T-RA, while 2379 (69.2%) patients were not categorized as D2T. Table 1 reports the demographic and clinical characteristics of D2T-RA patients. Patients with D2T-RA showed higher disease activity and PRO scores at baseline. Notably, JAK inhibitors (JAKis) were used more frequently in D2T-RA patients (48.8%) compared to non-D2T-RA patients (33.3%, p<0.05).Globally, the 5-year survival rate was significantly lower for D2T-RA patients compared to those with non-D2T-RA (47.5% vs 62.5%, p<0.001). No significant differences in persistence were observed among the classes of b/tsDMARDs used in D2T-RA (log-rank test: 6.76, p=0.15), with a 5-year survival rate of 38.7% for abatacept, 41.2% for TNFi, 48.1% for IL6r inhibitors, 62.3% for anti-CD20, and 49.6% for JAK inhibitors. Figure 1 shows changes from baseline in disease activity scores and VAS pain in D2T-RA according to b/tsDMARD class. DAS28-ESR was reduced in all b/tsDMARD classes, except for TNFi. CDAI was reduced in all b/tsDMARD classes without any differences among the classes. VAS pain was reduced in all classes. For VAS pain, we observed a significant difference between abatacept and JAK inhibitors, with JAK inhibitors showing greater reduction in VAS pain (p<0.05). Also filgotinib, the latest JAK inhibitor approved onto the market, exhibited a significant decrease on pain perception at both time points.Figure 1.Conclusion:Our study provides a snapshot of D2T-RA patients within the GISEA registry. All currently used b/tsDMARDs appear to be effective in this patient cohort. The higher efficacy of JAK inhibitors, particularly in managing pain symptoms in these patients, warrants further investigation.REFERENCES:[1] Nagy G, Roodenrijs NMT, Welsing PM, et al. EULAR definition of difficult-to-treat rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2021 Jan;80(1):31-35.Acknowledgements:We thank Ing. Massimiliano Dellisanti Fabiano Vilardi for his valuable contribution to database creation and management.Disclosure of Interests:None declared.

• Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and European League Against Rheumatism,Elsevier B.V,Elsevier Limited
• Subject: CD20 antigen / Disease-modifying Drugs (DMARDs) / Interleukin 6 receptors / Pain / Pain perception / Patients / Prednisone / Remission / Rheumatoid arthritis / Scientific Abstracts / Survival / Targeted synthetic drugs / Temporal perception / Variance analysis