THU0577 INFLUENCE OF THE ROUTE OF ADMINISTRATION ON SAFETY AND ADHERENCE PRACTICES OF RHEUMATOID PATIENTS TREATED BY JAK-INHIBITORS AND OTHER DMARDS. AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY FOR AN APP-BASED EDUCATION TOOL.
Authors: G. Montagu, S. Gleizes, T. Pham, J. Sellam, C. Beauvais
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2020)

Background: JAKi (JAK inhibitors) seem simpler of use than injected biologic agents due to their oral administration route. Safety and adherence issues remain and may need to modify patients’ counseling. Objectives: To understand the influence of the DMARDs’ route of administration on these issues for both patients and physicians in order to update the Hiboot ® education tool (ref1). Methods: Hiboot ® is a free smartphone application developed by the French Society of Rheumatology to enhance the patient’s safety, adherence to treatment, self-assessment and to give periodic counseling messages (ref1). This ethnographic study involved i)18 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) recruited by 3 rheumatologists considering diversity of clinical and sociological profiles. The panel included i) 14 women and 4 men, median age 56 years-old, median disease duration 10 years. Four patients were treated by methotrexate (MTX) monotherapy, 5 with MTX-bDMARDs or MTX-JAKi combo, 1 by bDMARDs monotherapy, 8 by JAKi monotherapy; ii) 9 rheumatologists with hospital or mixed hospital-private practice from 6 cities in France. The interviews were conducted by 2 anthropologists using in-depth semi directive and biographical methods (enough to reach saturation), registered and transcribed. The semi-directive interviews dealt with: i) the patient history with RA and its treatments, ii) the daily medication management, iii) the evolution of patients’ perceptions and knowledge over time. Results: For patients, adherence and safety behaviors were guided by their representations of 3 risks: disease-related, treatment-related, physician-related. When the disease-related risk was perceived greater than the treatment-related risk, patients tended to report better adherence. Beliefs on efficacy and safety depended more on the patient’s experience with RA over time (severity, activity, control) than on the route of administration (oral vs sub-cutaneous). However, patients treated with JAKi needed to update their lay knowledge and skills regarding their daily constraints and medication management. For rheumatologists, JAKi were considered a promising therapeutic option, but rarely prescribed so far due to a lack of personal experience. Owing to their recent introduction on the market (~2 years in France), JAKi were prescribed to patients with longer disease duration and after several DMARDs lines. The rheumatologists’ conservative attitude towards JAK-i depended on risk perceptions similar to the patients’: disease-related, treatment-related and patient-related i.e their perception of patients’ abilities to manage their care (presumed skills, autonomy…). This study confirms the importance of patients’ beliefs of the balance between medication necessity and risks regarding safety and adherence (ref2) which are shared with the rheumatologists. This study unexpectedly emphasized a doctor-related risk in patients as well as a patient-related risk in rheumatologists. One limitation is a bias in the recruitment of patients with long-standing RA. Conclusion: Rheumatologist-patient collaboration needs a shared vision of medication risks, independently of the route of administration. However new skills are needed for patients treated with JAKi. This qualitative study will serve to modify the Hiboot application to include the JAKi issues such as the reminders or daily life management. References: [1]Beauvais C et al EULAR 2019. [2]Neame R et al. Oxford Rheumatology. 2005. Acknowledgments: French Society of Rheumatology with institutional funding by Abbvie, Lilly, Pfizer. Disclosure of Interests: Guillaume Montagu: None declared, Sophie Gleizes: None declared, Thao Pham Speakers bureau: Novartis, Janssen, Lilly, Jérémie SELLAM: None declared, Catherine Beauvais Speakers bureau: Abbvie, MSD, Roche, UCB, Mylan, Sanofi