A recent study found a correlation between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients’ multibiomarker disease activity (MBDA) and the use of biologics and Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors.
Researchers evaluated Medicare data from 2011–2015 and connected RA patients to their MBDA scores, and determined which patients began treatment with a biologic or JAK inhibitor within six months after their MBDA test.
A total of 60,596 RA patients were included in the study. Of the patients who had not previously been using biologics or a JAK inhibitor, 9.0% who had a low MBDA score initiated one of these treatments, compared to 11.8% with a moderate MBDA score, and 19.7% with a high MBDA score (p < 0.0001). For patients who were already using biologics or a JAK inhibitor, 5.2%, 8.3%, and 13.5% of low, moderate, and high MBDA score patients, respectively, added or switched treatment (p < 0.0001). In multivariable analysis, using low disease MBDA scores as a reference, moderate MBDA score patients had a 1.51-fold increased chance of switching (95% CI 1.35–1.69), and high MBDA patients had a 2.62-fold increased chance (2.26–3.05).
Researchers also observed that high MBDA score patients who added a biologic or JAK inhibitor and underwent another MBDA test but did not have an improved score were more likely to experience RA treatment failure (odds ratio [OR] 1.61, 95% CI 1.27–2.03).
“While we cannot provide certainty that the main reason that clinicians switched therapies was the MBDA test result, we note that the median time to add or switch to a new RA treatment was 1-2 months after testing, lending plausibility to the MBDA test being influential in this decision,” the study authors wrote.
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Sources: The Journal of Rheumatology, Rheumatology News
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