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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., Hacettepe Rheumatology Society

Background Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease leading to deformities and disabilities. in the treatment of RA glucocorticoids are selected sometimes to relief symptoms and to increase compliance for treatment. Objectives The purpose of our study is to investigate whether concomitant glucocorticoid treatment at the baseline affects drug survival for abatacept treatment in RA. Methods Data on patient characteristics, diagnosis, previous treatment and outcomes have been collected since 2011 in Turkish Biologic (TURKBIO) Registry. By the end of December 2017, 338 RA patients, received abatacept from the TURKBIO registry, were included in the analysis. Patients were divided into groups according to the use of glucocorticoid when abatacept therapy was started. Demographic and clinical data including age, sex, disease type, disease duration, and previous or current treatment with DMARDs and biological drug durations are recorded in the database. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed to estimate the drug survival. Subgroups were compared by log-rank. Results There were no significant differences in age, gender, seropositivity, tender and swollen joint counts at baseline in the study groups. The disease duration was higher in the glucocorticoid users (p=0.001). Abatacept was the first choice bDMARDs in the 44.5% of glucocorticoid users while it was 68.6% in the glucocorticoid non-users (p Conclusions When abatacept treatment started, concomitant use of glucocorticoid at the baseline could not significantly alter drug survival for abatacept in the RA. Disclosure of Interest None declared