The three-year efficacy of iguratimod in clinical daily practice in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the middle-term outcome of iguratimod (IGU) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.

Methods: Sixty-nine RA patients (14 males and 55 females, mean age of 64.0 years) receiving IGU-containing therapies were enrolled. We divided these patients into three groups based on the treatment at the baseline: an IGU group, a methotrexate (MTX) plus IGU group, and a biologics plus IGU group. The baseline characteristics and clinical course were evaluated over three years. Predictive factors associated with the achievement of low disease activity (LDA) were statistically analyzed.

Results: The survival rate of IGU therapy at 3 years was 40.6%. The disease activity was significantly decreased in the IGU group and MTX plus IGU group compared with the baseline. Furthermore, 38 patients (55.1%) were in remission or had LDA at 3 years. The patient gender, use of prednisolone (PSL) and DAS28-CRP at baseline were the factors associated with the achievement of remission or LDA at three years.

Conclusion: IGU was effective without MTX or bDMARDs as well as in combination with MTX. A female gender, no use of PSL and a low DAS28-CRP at the initiation of IGU were associated with clinical remission or LDA achievement at three years.

Keywords:

• Iguratimod
• DMARDs
• methotrexate
• biological treatment
• rheumatoid arthritis

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank to Kenji Takagishi, Masatoshi Matsushita, Keiko Otsuka, Chisa Okura, Masahiro Tachibana, Hiroshi Inoue and Makoto Inoue for their contribution in acquiring data.

Conflict of interest

None.