Clinical Outcomes in Iraqi Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis Following Earlier or Later Treatment with Etanercept

Abstract

Purpose

The development of evidence-based guidelines on early pharmacotherapeutic treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) could be useful in Middle Eastern nations striving to improve outcomes in patients with this chronic, debilitating disease. Evidence obtained from local populations should inform such guidelines and therefore our aim was to use real-world data to evaluate the clinical responses of Iraqi patients with RA who received earlier or later treatment with the TNF inhibitor etanercept.

Patients and Methods

Data from patients registered in the Iraq National Center of Rheumatology database from May 2012 to December 2018, inclusive, were analyzed retrospectively. Inclusion criteria were age ≥18 years, meeting the ACR/EULAR 2010 criteria for RA, referral for etanercept treatment, and ≥1 year of follow-up after etanercept initiation. Patients were excluded if they had received another biologic for RA. Included patients were categorized according to two separate stratifications: whether duration of RA symptoms prior to etanercept initiation was ≤10 or >10 years (10 years represented the mean duration for the entire analysis population); and according to whether duration of RA symptoms prior to etanercept initiation was ≤1, >1 to ≤4, >4 to ≤10, >10 to ≤20, or >20 years. The evaluated outcomes were mean change from baseline in Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI) and 28-joint Disease Activity Score (DAS28) after 1 year of etanercept treatment.

Results

A total of 979 patients were included. CDAI and DAS28 were significantly reduced (p<0.001 for both) after 1 year of etanercept treatment irrespective of whether duration of RA symptoms prior to treatment was ≤10 or >10 years. Patients with RA symptoms for ≤1 year prior to etanercept initiation showed a significant reduction in CDAI after 1 year of treatment (p=0.01).

Conclusion

Iraqi patients with RA who received earlier treatment with etanercept had superior outcomes compared with those who received later treatment.

Keywords:

• autoimmunity
• biologics
• delayed treatment of rheumatoid arthritis
• early treatment of rheumatoid arthritis
• real-world data
• TNF inhibitors

Acknowledgments

Medical writing support was provided by David Wateridge, PhD, of Engage Scientific Solutions and was funded by Pfizer. The data described in this article were previously reported in the form of an abstract and poster presentation at the ACR Convergence virtual meeting in November, 2020.

Author Contributions

All authors made substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; took part in drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; agreed to submit to the current journal; gave final approval of the version to be published; and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

NA-A, FG, DY, FAD, and YAH declare no conflict of interest. NS and AA are employees of Pfizer and hold stock and/or stock options with Pfizer.

Additional information

Funding

There is no funding to report.