Reasons for b/tsDMARD treatment interruptions in rheumatoid arthritis

Key clinical point: A majority of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) stopped their first-time biological or targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (b/tsDMARD) because of nonresponse to the treatment. Patients who stopped because of remission vs. nonresponse had worse disease activity at treatment restart.

Major finding: Nonresponse (38%), adverse events (19%), and remission (8%) were the major reasons to stop the first-time b/tsDMARD, with the median time to restart treatment being shortest among patients with nonresponse (30 days) and longest among those with remission (1597 days). Moreover, RA disease activity was worse at b/tsDMARD restart in patients who stopped b/tsDMARD after achieving remission (P < .0001).

Study details: This was an explorative descriptive cohort study including 2526 patients with RA who stopped their first b/tsDMARD treatment.

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Disclosures: The study did not declare any source of funding. No conflicts of interest were declared.

Source: Burkard T et al. Interruptions of biological and targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs in rheumatoid arthritis: a descriptive cohort study assessing trends in patient characteristics in Switzerland. BMJ Open. 2022;12:e056352 (Mar 15). Doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-056352