Health-related quality of life and treatment satisfaction in patients with gout: results from a cross-sectional study in a managed care setting

Puja P Khanna,1 Aki Shiozawa,2 Valery Walker,3 Tim Bancroft,3 Breanna Essoi,3 Kasem S Akhras,4 Dinesh Khanna11Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; 2Global Outcome Research, Takeda Pharmaceuticals International, Inc., Deerfield, IL, USA; 3Health Economics and Outcomes Research, Optum, Eden Prairie, MN, USA; 4Novartis Pharmacy Services AG, Dubai, United Arab EmiratesBackground: Patient satisfaction with treatment directly impacts adherence to medication.Objective: The objective was to assess and compare treatment satisfaction with the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM), gout-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) with the Gout Impact Scale (GIS), and generic HRQoL with the SF-12v2® Health Survey (SF-12) in patients with gout in a real-world practice setting.Methods: This cross-sectional mail survey included gout patients enrolled in a large commercial health plan in the US. Patients were ≥18 years with self-reported gout diagnosis, who filled ≥1 prescription for febuxostat during April 26, 2012 to July 26, 2012 and were not taking any other urate-lowering therapies. The survey included the TSQM version II (TSQM vII, score 0–100, higher scores indicate better satisfaction), GIS (score 0–100, higher scores indicate worse condition), and SF-12 (physical component summary and mental component summary). Patients were stratified by self-report of currently experiencing a gout attack or not to assess the discriminant ability of the questionnaires.Results: A total of 257 patients were included in the analysis (mean age, 54.9 years; 87% male). Patients with current gout attack (n=29, 11%) had worse scores than those without gout attack on most instrument scales. Mean differences between current attack and no current attack for the TSQM domains were: -20.6, effectiveness; -10.6, side effects; -12.1, global satisfaction (all P