AB0215 A longer mean survival of biologic treatments is associated with das28 remission in rheumatoid arthritis patients
Authors: F Ometto, C Botsios, B Raffeiner, D Astorri, L Friso, L Bernardi, L Punzi, A Doria
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2017)

<h3>Objectives</h3> To determine factors associated with remission (DAS28&lt;2.6). We specifically considered the association of biologic treatment duration, number of biologic switches and survival of biologic treatment with remission. <h3>Methods</h3> We conducted a retrospective analysis on a monocentric cohort of rheumatoid arthritis patients. We included patients who were on biologic drugs at the time of the analysis (31st December 2016). We considered patients starting the first biologic treatment since January 2000 and with a follow-up ≥12 months. We considered the following variables: demographics, positive rheumatoid factor (RF)/ anti-citrullinated peptides (ACPA), disease duration at the start of the first biologic treatment, number of biologic switches, clinical assessment at the last follow-up, concomitant DMARDs, prednisone dose, current biologic treatment. We also considered the mean survival of biologic treatments, defined as the duration of the biologic treatment of each patient divided by the number of biologics undergone by the patient. Mann-Whitney test and chi-square test were used to assess the association of continuous and categorical variables with the outcome. Continuous measures are reported as medians and interquartile range. Multivariate regression analysis included all variables reaching a p value &lt;0.2 in univariate analysis <h3>Results</h3> We collected data of 330 patients. All patients had complete data. One hundred thirty-five patients (40.9%) were in DAS28 remission. Characteristics of the patients are reported in Table I. We considered 609 biologic treatments (abatacept n=61; anti-TNF alpha n=445; anakinra n=43; tocilizumab n=56; rituximab n=5). Total biologic treatment duration in all patients was 9.62 years (5.68–12.53), in patients in remission 8.95 (4.70–12.53) and in patients not in remission 10.12 (6.28–12.62) (p=0.248). Median number of previous biologic switches was 1.00 (0–1.00) in patients in remission and not in remission (p=0.436). Survival of biologic treatments was 5.33 years (2.89–7.72) in all patients, 4.57 (2.54–7.28) in patients in remission and 5.81 (3.49–7.93) in patients not in remission (p=0.013). All clinical assessments at the last follow-up were significantly associated with DAS28 remission. Mean prednisone dose was significantly lower in patients in DAS28 remission but was considered as a consequence of remission rather than a predictor (Table I). The type of current biologic treatment was not significantly associated with DAS28 remission. Variables included in the multivariate regression analysis were: BMI, age, disease duration, positive RF/ACPA mean survival of each biologic treatment. All variables included in the model were independently associated with DAS28 remission. A higher BMI, older age, longer disease duration and positive RF/ACPA were negatively associated with remission. A longer mean survival of biologic treatments was positively associated with DAS28 remission (OR 1.11 per year increase, 95% C.I. 1.03–1.18, p=0.003). <h3>Conclusions</h3> The duration of biologic treatment and the number of previous biologic switches were not associated with of DAS28 remission. Indeed, a longer survival of biologic treatments was associated with remission. The mean survival of biologic treatments reflects both a smaller number of biologic failures and a prolonged response to each biologic treatment. <h3>Disclosure of Interest</h3> None declared