Orhan Küçükşahin, Servet Akar, Emel Gönüllü, Duygu Ersözlü, Sedat Kiraz, Gezmiş Kimyon, Hakan Emmungil, Umut Kalyoncu, Ali İhsan Ertenli, Nihan Coşkun, Emre Bilgin, Rıdvan Mercan, Yavuz Pehlivan, Omer Karadag, Hüseyin Dalkiliç, Cemal Bes, Süleyman Serdar Koca, Burcu Yağız, Nilüfer Alpay Kanıtez, Timuçin Kaşifoğlu, Seda Colak, Elif Durak Ediboglu, Levent Kilic, İç Hastalıkları, Kanıtez, Nilüfer Alpay (ORCID 0000-0003-1185-5816 & YÖK ID 239432), Kalyoncu, Umut, Pehlivan, Yavuz, Akar, Servet, Kaşifoğlu, Timuçin, Kimyon, Gezmiş, Karadağ, Ömer, Dalkılıç, Ediz, Ertenli, Ali İhsan, Kılıç, Levent, Ersözlü, Duygu, Beş, Cemal, Emmungil, Hakan, Mercan, Rıdvan, Ediboğlu, Elif Durak, Bilgin, Emre, Çolak, Seda, Koca, Süleyman Serdar, Gönüllü, Emel, Küçükşahin, Orhan, Coşkun, Nihan, Yağız, Burcu, Kiraz, Sedat, Koç University Hospital, and School of Medicine
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