Real World Data in Rheumatoid Arthritis

New presentations by Eli Lilly shared real-world rheumatoid arthritis (RA) data that shed light on the initiation and use of biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) among RA patients as well as their preference of RA treatment.

These findings were presented at the Annual American College of Rheumatology (ACR)/Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals (ARHP) meeting, and piggybacked off of their earlier presentation demonstrating that baricitinib significantly improved patient-reported outcomes in individuals with RA.

In 2 real world analyses from an online community that contained more than 2700 patients with RA, findings revealed that several factors, including the status of their disease, duration since diagnosis, expected annual out-of-pocked spending, and preferred route of administration determined bDMARD use among the patients.

Researchers also found that patients rated the rapid reduction of symptoms as the most important attribute of RA medications, assuming equal insurance and cost-effectiveness.

Patients preferred oral administration of their medications, with more severe (versus less severe) and bDMARD-current (versus bDMARD-prior/never) patients who had a greater preference for non-oral drugs.

The study indicated that a better understanding of patient medication preference should help identify the barriers to effective RA management.