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Objectives: We aimed to determine the choice of biologic/targeted synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (b/ts-DMARDs), factors associated with the development of chronic kidney disease (CKD), and mortality in RA patients with CKD receiving b/ts-DMARDs., Methods: Two thousand one hundred forty-one RA (79.4% female) patients were included in the analysis from the HUR-BIO prospective registry. Patients were divided into the CKD group and the non-CKD group. Age and gender-matched patients were selected from the non-CKD group, and then three main groups were determined. CKD was staged according to the glomerular filtration rate criteria. The clinical characteristics of the patients, disease activities, treatment choices, drug retention rate, and mortality rates were compared between the groups., Results: CKD was detected in 90/2141 (4.2%) RA patients on b/ts-DMARDs. Forty patients (2.3%) developed CKD during follow-up after the initiation of b/ts-DMARDs. In the CKD group, anti-TNF agents were chosen as the first-line b/ts-DMARDs therapy in 64.4% of patients, with etanercept leading in 31 (34.4%) patients. In multivariate analysis, age at the start of treatment, DAS-28-ESR at last visit, amyloidosis, hypertension, and history of smoking were the factors associated with the development of CKD in RA patients receiving b/ts-DMARDs. The mortality rate in RA-CKD patients until the onset of the pandemic was 15.41 per 1000 patient years, whereas it was 85.9 per 1000 patient years after the pandemic., Conclusion: Comorbidities and control of disease activity are critical in the development of CKD in RA patients receiving b/ts-DMARDs. While there was no significant difference in mortality rate between CKD and non-CKD patients, the overall mortality rate increased after the COVID-19 pandemic duration in both groups., (© 2023 Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)

This study aimed to compare Tuberculin Skin Test (TST) and QuantiFERON®-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) test in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and spondyloarthritis (SpA) patients scheduled for biological and targeted synthetic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) in a Bacillus Calmette-Guérin-vaccinated population. Adult RA (n = 206) and SpA (n = 392) patients from the TReasure database who had both TST and QFT-GIT prior to initiation of biological and targeted synthetic DMARDs were included in the study. Demographic and disease characteristics along with pre-biologic DMARD and steroid use were recorded. The distribution of TST and performance with respect to QFT-GIT were compared between RA and SpA groups. Pre-biologic conventional DMARD and steroid use was higher in the RA group. TST positivity rates were 44.2% in RA and 69.1% in SpA for a 5 mm cutoff (p < 0.001). Only 8.9% and 15% of the patients with RA and SpA, respectively, tested positive by QFT-GIT. The two tests poorly agreed in both groups at a TST cutoff of 5 mm and increasing the TST cutoff only slightly increased the agreement. Among age, sex, education and smoking status, pre-biologic steroid and conventional DMARD use, disease group, and QFT-GIT positivity, which were associated with a 5 mm or higher TST, only disease group (SpA) and QFT-GIT positivity remained significant in multiple logistic regression. TST positivity was more pronounced in SpA compared to that in RA and this was not explainable by pre-biologic DMARD and steroid use. The agreement of TST with QFT-GIT was poor in both groups. Using a 5 mm TST cutoff for both diseases could result in overestimating LTBI in SpA., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Objectives: To compare enteropathic spondylitis (ES) with psoriatic spondylitis (PS) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS), in patients on biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (bDMARD) treatment., Methods: Patients who were enrolled in the HUR-BIO registry were included. ES patients were considered as the main study group; AS and PS patients were included as the control groups. ES was defined as patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) having inflammatory back pain/spine symptoms plus radiological sacroiliitis., Results: Sixty-four ES patients (46.9% female), 128 AS patients (39.1% female), and 92 PS patients (62% female) were analysed. Baseline erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was significantly higher in the ES group than in the AS group. Both the baseline ESR and C-reactive protein were also higher in the ES group compared with the PS group. Among the first bDMARD use, infliximab use was higher in the ES group than the other groups. There was a marginal significant difference between the SpA subgroups in the retention rates of the first bDMARDs (log-rank, p=0.059). Ulcerative colitis was a significant predictor for switching of bDMARDs in comparison to Crohn's disease. Regarding the treatment responses, no significant differences were relevant for the three groups in terms of 50% improvement of the initial Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index score, the Assessment of Spondyloarthritis International Society partial remission score, and 20% improvement of ASAS score., Conclusions: A large majority of enteropathic spondyloarthritis patients on bDMARD treatment had radiographic sacroiliitis. ES patients had distinctive features that distinguish them from AS and PS patients.

Background/aim: To evaluate treatment adherence and predictors of drug discontinuation among patients with inflammatory arthritis receiving bDMARDs within the first 100 days after the announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic., Materials and Methods: A total of 1871 patients recorded in TReasure registry for whom advanced therapy was prescribed for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or spondyloarthritis (SpA) within the 3 months (6–9 months for rituximab) before the declaration of COVID-19 pandemic were evaluated, and 1394 (74.5%) responded to the phone survey. Patients’ data regarding demographic, clinical characteristics and disease activity before the pandemic were recorded. The patients were inquired about the diagnosis of COVID-19, the rate of continuation on bDMARDs, the reasons for treatment discontinuation, if any, and the current general disease activity (visual analog scale, [VAS])., Results: A total of 1394 patients (493 RA [47.3% on anti-TNF] patients and 901 SpA [90.0% on anti-TNF] patients) were included in the study. Overall, 2.8% of the patients had symptoms suggesting COVID-19, and 2 (0.15%) patients had PCR-confirmed COVID-19. Overall, 18.1% of all patients (13.8% of the RA and 20.5% of the SpA; p = 0.003) discontinued their bDMARDs. In the SpA group, the patients who discontinued bDMARDs were younger (40 [21–73] vs. 44 years [20–79]; p = 0.005) and had higher general disease activity; however, no difference was relevant for RA patients., Conclusion: Although the COVID-19 was quite uncommon in the first 100 days of the pandemic, nearly one-fifth of the patients discontinued bDMARDs within this period. The long-term effects of the pandemic should be monitored., (This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.)

Objectives: To assess the real-life retention rate of certolizumab and factors related to retention of certolizumab., Methods: We analysed all patients who received at least 1 dose of certolizumab and were registered in the HURBIO database. Patients with at least 1 control visit were included in efficacy analysis. Drug retention rates were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method and predictors of drug retention was determined by Cox proportional hazard model. Factors predicting BASDAI50 response at first visit were analysed by the logistic regression analysis. Reasons of switching and discontinuation were also determined., Results: A total of 325 (AS (76%), female 55%) patients were recruited. Median follow-up while receiving certolizumab was 13 (4.7-22.7) months. At 1 year, overall certolizumab retention rate was 72.5%. Predictors of poor certolizumab retention were: Current or ex-smoker [HR 1.11 (0.70-1.76), p=0.65], high CRP levels [HR 0.72 (0.45-1.16), p=0.18], biologic-naïve [HR 0.81 (0.49-1.32), p=0.39] and good BASDAI50 response at first control visit [HR 0.54 (0.30-0.96), p=0.04]. Mean duration from starting certolizumab to the first control visit was 3 (3-6) months. Predictors of poor BASDAI50 response: Presence of nr-axSpa [RR 2.12 (1.01-4.51), p=0.05], female gender [RR 2.14 (1.20-3.82), p=0.01] and history of biologic therapy [RR 3.52 (1.95-6.33), p<0.001]. The most common causes of drug switch were primary failure and drug side-effects., Conclusions: In this study, good BASDAI50 response at first visit seems to be a strong predictor of higher retention of certolizumab in patients with axial spondyloarthritis.

Background/aim: The TReasure registry, created in 2017, is an observational multicenter cohort that includes inflammatory arthritis patients. This article reviews the methodology and objectives of the TReasure registry established to collect data from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and spondyloarthritis (SpA) patients., Methodology: Fifteen rheumatology centers in Turkey will contribute data to the TReasure database. The actual proprietor of the database is the Hacettepe Rheumatology Association (HRD) and Hacettepe Financial Enterprises. Pharmaceutical companies that operate in Turkey (in alphabetical or er), Abbvie, Amgen, BMS, Celltrion Healthcare, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, and UCB, support the TReasure registry. TReasure is a web-based database to which users connect through a URL (https://www.trials-network.org/treasure) with their unique identifier and passwords provided for data entry and access. TReasure records demographic and clinical features, comorbidities, radiology and laboratory results, measures of disease activity, and treatment data., Discussion: TReasure will provide us with various types of data, such as a cross-sectional view of the current nationwide status of the patients currently receiving these treatments, and retrospective data as much as allowed by the participating centers’ records. Finally, a high-quality prospective dataset will be built over the ensuing years from patients with a new diagnosis of RA or SpA.

Objective: The aim was to assess the characteristics of PsA, find out how well the disease is controlled in real life, demonstrate the treatments and identify the unmet needs., Methods: The PsA registry of Turkey is a multicentre Web-based registry established in 2014 and including 32 rheumatology centres. Detailed data regarding demographics for skin and joint disease, disease activity assessments and treatment choices were collected., Results: One thousand and eighty-one patients (64.7% women) with a mean (sd) PsA duration of 5.8 (6.7) years were enrolled. The most frequent type of PsA was polyarticular [437 (40.5%)], followed by oligoarticular [407 (37.7%)] and axial disease [372 (34.4%)]. The mean (sd) swollen and tender joint counts were 1.7 (3) and 3.6 (4.8), respectively. Of these patients, 38.6% were on conventional synthetic DMARD monotherapy, 7.1% were on anti-TNF monotherapy, and 22.5% were using anti-TNF plus conventional synthetic DMARD combinations. According to DAS28, 86 (12.4%) patients had high and 105 (15.2%) had moderate disease activity. Low disease activity was achieved in 317 (45.7%) patients, and 185 (26.7%) were in remission. Minimal disease activity data could be calculated in 247 patients, 105 of whom (42.5%) had minimal disease activity. The major differences among sexes were that women were older and had less frequent axial disease, more fatigue, higher HAQ scores and less remission., Conclusion: The PsA registry of Turkey had similarities with previously published registries, supporting its external validity. The finding that women had more fatigue and worse functioning as well as the high percentage of active disease state highlight the unmet need in treatment of PsA., (© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

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