Longterm clinical outcomes in 420 patients with psoriatic arthritis taking anti-tumor necrosis factor drugs in real-world settings

Objective.An observational study to evaluate the longterm clinical outcomes of adalimumab (ADA), etanercept (ETN), and infliximab (IFX) in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA), in real-world settings. Methods. From a prospective cohort we studied 420 biologic-naive patients with PsA who had peripheral arthritis and were beginning a treatment with ADA, ETN, or IFX. Drug survival was evaluated by Kaplan-Meier life analysis, and baseline predictors of drug discontinuation were assessed by Cox regression analysis. The frequency of concomitant glucocorticoids and the daily mean dosage were compared by chi-square test and ANOVA repeated measures across 4 years. Results. After 4 years the overall survival of the first anti-tumor necrosis factor-a (anti-TNF) was 51.0%, but significantly higher for ETN (58.9%) than ADA (43.9%) or IFX (44.0%; p = 0.003). Patients taking ETN also had the lowest HR of drug discontinuation (HR 0.57, 95% CI 0.34-0.93, p = 0.02). The strongest predictor of drug interruption was female sex (HR 2.02, 95% CI 1.28-3.20, p = 0.002). The disease duration was inversely correlated with drug discontinuation (HR 0.96, 95% CI 0.93-0.99, p = 0.02). The average daily dose of prednisone significantly decreased from baseline: 5.6 ± 2.5 to 4.7 ± 1.9 at 1 year (p = 0.01) to 4.0 ± 1.8 at 4 years (p = 0.001). Additionally, compared to baseline (49.6%), a significant reduction of patients taking glucocorticoids was detected at 2 years (36.5%, p < 0.05), 3 years (29.9%, p < 0.01), and 4 years (22.6%, p < 0.01). Conclusion. In real-world settings, TNF inhibitors showed a high rate of drug survival at 4 years. Further, the need for glucocorticoids for controlling active PsA was lowered with time.