Data from the Romanian Registry of Rheumatic Diseases for patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with biologic and targeted synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs during 2019

• Main Authors: Catalin Codreanu, Corina Mogosan, Claudiu C. Popescu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amaltea Medical Publishing House 2020-03-01
• Series: Romanian Journal of Rheumatology
• Subjects: rheumatoid arthritis; romanian registry of rheumatic diseases; biologics
• Online Access: https://rjr.com.ro/articles/2020.1/RJR_2020_1_Art-02.pdf

The number of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with visits introduced in the Romanian Registry of Rheumatic Diseases (RRBR) has been steadily increasing within the last 3 years. Included patients display the classical phenotype of established RA, with a relatively high prevalence of extra-articular manifestations, cardiovascular comorbidity and a high burden regarding early retirement due to RA. Data regarding treatment showed a very low prevalence of monotherapy with biologic and targeted synthetic disease-modifying drugs (b/tsDMARD) and a low prevalence of glucocorticoid-therapy. Approximately a fifth of the patients started b/tsDMARD-therapy early during disease course (under 2 years from diagnosis). The most frequent prescribed bDMARD was etanercept, followed by adalimumab and rituximab. Treatment decisions trends in 2019 showed that some molecules present a negative balance, such as abatacept and rituximab, while others present a positive balance such as bDMARD biosimilars and tsDMARDs. Overall, b/tsDMARD achieved treatment target (DAS28-defined remission and LDA) within the first 6 months of treatment in 81.4% of treated patients. Also, RRBR data indicate a slow but significant increase in tapered regimens. Thus, the RRBR has proved to be a very valuable tool in capturing data regarding RA management in a real-life national setting of rheumatology healthcare.