Spondyloarthritis & psoriatic arthritis
Real-world registry-based study on apremilast use in psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis in Finland
An erratum to this article was published (Scand J Rheumatol, May 2023 ↗)
Main finding · Apremilast persistenceResult — go to the resultHR for discontinuation 2.15 95% CI 1.42–3.25Authors' conclusion
In Finnish clinical practice, apremilast is mainly used between conventional synthetic therapy and biologics, with at least as high treatment persistence as reported in previous studies. Apremilast users were older with higher comorbidity burden than biologics users.
Study context
- Population
- Patients with PsO or psoriatic arthritis (PsA) (L40* diagnosis and medication records, 2015–2018), FinlandPsO 31,202
- Participants
- 471 vs 4,214
- Exposure
- Apremilast users vs biologic therapy users
- Apremilastn = 471
- Biologicsn = 4,214reference
- Outcome
- Persistence with apremilast and factors influencing treatment discontinuation
Methodological detailsregistry-based, Finnish national health registries, Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox regression
- Registry-based
- Finnish national health registries
- Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox regression
Main finding
Apremilast persistence · observation period
HR for discontinuation
2.15
95% CI 1.42–3.25
Prior biologic therapyvs Prior conventional synthetic therapy
HR for discontinuation 2.15 (95% CI 1.42–3.25)
As reported in the abstract
- Remained on apremilast during observation period
- 47%
- Remained on apremilast, PsO
- 58%
- Remained on apremilast, PsA
- 42%
- Median persistence PsO vs PsA (months)
- 14 vs 11; p = 0.005
- Persistence increased with age
- P = 0.042
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Mean age
P < 0.001
| Outcome | Apremilast | Biologics | P value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charlson comorbidity score | 0.71 | 0.54 | P < 0.001 |
Treatment pathway
- Switched to apremilast from conventional synthetic therapy, PsO
- 75%
- Switched to apremilast from conventional synthetic therapy, PsA
- 76%
- Discontinuers switching to biologics, PsO
- 51%
- Discontinuers switching to biologics, PsA
- 51%
Original publication
Real-world registry-based study on apremilast use in psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis in Finland. Scand J Rheumatol. Published 16 January 2023. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →