Treatment practices and costs among patients with psoriatic arthritis: A Japanese hospital claims database analysis

Abstract

Objective

Assess patient characteristics, real-world treatment patterns, and health care resource utilization (HCRU) among patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in Japan.

Methods

Patients diagnosed with PsA from April 2009 through July 2017 were identified from the Medical Data Vision database. Patient characteristics, treatment patterns, and HCRU were evaluated for these patients.

Results

A total of 639 patients met inclusion criteria and were included in the analysis for patients with a PsA diagnosis. Over 12 months following diagnosis, patients received oral NSAIDs (61.7%), conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) (55.1%), corticosteroids (35.1%), topical NSAIDs (34.0%), adalimumab (14.7%), infliximab (9.7%), secukinumab (5.0%), ustekinumab (4.5%), ixekizumab (1.6%), and golimumab (1.6%). A total of 227 (35.5%) patients initiated biologic DMARDs (bDMARDs) over the median 25.2 months of study follow-up. Compared with the overall group of patients diagnosed with PsA, patients who initiated bDMARDs had higher median total per-patient health care costs ($27,772 vs. $11,316), lower median per-patient hospitalization costs ($31,164 vs. $39,359), and fewer median hospital days per admission (8.0 vs. 12.0 days).

Conclusion

This study presents knowledge of the current state of patient characteristics, treatment patterns, HCRU, and costs among patients with PsA in Japan. Considering the relatively recent guideline recommendations, the preliminary treatment patterns suggest physicians may be following treatment guidelines.

Keywords:

• Biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs
• claims database
• Japan
• psoriatic arthritis

Acknowledgements

Eli Lilly Japan K. K. provided financial support for the study. The authors thank Brian Samsell of RTI Health Solutions for medical writing assistance.

Conflicts of interest

MS, SK, and HTI are Eli Lilly Japan K. K. employees and hold stock in Eli Lilly Japan K. K. KI is a paid consultant for Eli Lilly Japan K. K. but did not receive compensation for participation in this study. EE and RP are employees of RTI Health Solutions, an independent nonprofit research organization that does work for government agencies and pharmaceutical companies.