Patient expectations and experiences of multiple sclerosis interferon β-1a treatment: a longitudinal, observational study in routine UK clinical practice

Figures & data

Figure 1 Key stages of multiple sclerosis treatment with IFN β-1a through the Bupa Home Healthcare service, and data collection in the AIMS program.

Abbreviations: AIMS, Assessing needs in Multiple Sclerosis; IFN, interferon; sc, subcutaneous.

Table 1 Patient demographic and characteristics

Characteristic	Existing patients (n=1,123)	New patients (n=1,267)	All patients (N=2,390)
Mean (SD) age,a years	43.6 (8.93)	39.9 (9.30)	41.6 (9.31)
Age range, years	21–73	16–76	16–76
Agea (categorized by years), n (%)
<25	11 (<1)	61 (5)	72 (3)
25–34	170 (15)	292 (23)	462 (19)
35–44	447 (40)	525 (41)	972 (41)
45–54	350 (31)	312 (25)	662 (28)
55–64	135 (12)	71 (6)	206 (9)
≥65	10 (<1)	6 (<1)	16 (<1)
Sex, n (%)
Female	872 (78)	1,020 (81)	1,892 (79)
Male	251 (22)	247 (19)	498 (21)
Region, n (%)
East Midlands	116 (10.33)	114 (9.00)	230 (9.62)
East of England	120 (10.69)	106 (8.37)	226 (9.46)
London	19 (1.69)	55 (4.34)	74 (3.10)
North East	123 (10.95)	101 (7.97)	224 (9.37)
North West	141 (12.56)	177 (13.97)	318 (13.31)
Scotland	126 (11.22)	100 (7.89)	226 (9.46)
South Central	94 (8.37)	108 (8.52)	202 (8.45)
South East Coast	52 (4.63)	55 (4.34)	107 (4.48)
South West	55 (4.90)	102 (8.05)	157 (6.57)
West Midlands	152 (13.54)	193 (15.23)	345 (14.44)
Yorkshire and Humber	125 (11.13)	156 (12.31)	281 (11.76)

Note:

a Age of patient on date of pre-delivery assessment.

Abbreviation: SD, standard deviation.

Table 2 Information provision and treatment experience responses during the study

Question	Response	Treatment period	Proportion of responses, % (n/N)
Information provision
Have you been in contact with the clinic since our last call?	Yes	0–6 months >2 years	34 (1,024/2,993) 14 (243/1,758)
How well informed do you feel?	Extremely or very	0–6 months >2 years	59 (1,764/3,004) 63 (1,097/1,755)
Have you contacted any support lines this month?	No	0–6 months >2 years	94 (2,826/3,012) 99 (1,739/1,765)
Treatment experience
How have you been since the last call?	Very well or well	0–6 months >2 years	24 (726/3,017) 24 (423/1,770)
How have you found taking your treatment this month?	Very good or good	0–6 months >2 years	24 (729/3,016) 23 (404/1,771)
What was your concern?	Problems with injecting	0–6 months >2 years	46 (42/91) 50 (9/18)
	Other	0–6 months >2 years	41 (37/91) 44 (8/18)

Figure 2 Kaplan–Meier curves of time to stop treatment within the new patient population, by: (A) patients who received information from the clinic; (B) informed level at the outset; (C) age class at the start of treatment; (D) patient experience on treatment.

Table 3 Multivariate Cox regression analysis for time to stop treatment in new patients (N=1,267)

Covariate	n	Hazard ratioa	95% CI	P-value
Region
East of England	106	1.00b	–	–
East Midlands	114	1.89	1.11–3.22	0.020
Scotland	100	2.81	1.60–4.94	<0.001
London	55	1.63	0.76–3.48	0.206
North East	101	1.60	0.83–3.08	0.160
North West	177	1.68	1.02–2.76	0.040
South Central	108	2.09	1.23–3.57	0.007
South East Coast	55	1.03	0.47–2.23	0.948
South West	102	1.98	1.11–3.51	0.020
West Midlands	193	1.19	0.69–2.04	0.537
Yorkshire and Humber	156	1.47	0.87–2.49	0.149
Has your clinic given you any information on treatment yet?		1.33	1.01–1.76	0.045
How have you been on treatment since our last call?		1.93	1.57–2.38	<0.001

Notes:

a The hazard ratio for each effect tested is adjusted for all other covariates/effects in the model

b reference. East of England region had the highest survival probability in the time to stop treatment analysis of all the regions studied; regions in bold were statistically more likely to stop treatment.

Abbreviation: CI, confidence interval.