Systemic sclerosis & Raynaud's
Rituximab retention rate in systemic sclerosis: a long term real-life multicentre study
Authors' conclusion
Rituximab is a safe and effective treatment in SSc: clinical response emerged as the primary reason for rituximab discontinuation, and AEs had a limited impact on treatment persistence.
Study context
- Population
- SSc patients treated with RTX in a multicentric national cohort (mean age 47.3 years; females 79.6%; diffuse disease 77.6%; anti-topoisomerase-I positivity 63.2%)138 received >1 RTX course
- Participants
- 152 patients
- Outcome
- RTX retention rate
- Follow-up
- 5 years
Methodological detailsmulticentre, real-life, competing risk analysis
- Multicentre
- Real-life
- Competing risk analysis
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
5-year RTX retention rate
Rituximab
59.9%
interval 44.6–64.7%
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
| Outcome | Values |
|---|---|
| Discontinuation for clinical response (most common reason), per 100 patient-years | Rituximab 5.7 (95% CI 3.7–8.4) per 100 patient-years |
| Discontinuation for treatment failure (second cause), per 100 patient-years | Rituximab 3.7 (95% CI 2.2–6.0) per 100 patient-years |
- Discontinuation for clinical response (most common reason), per 100 patient-years — Shorter disease duration, sub-hazard ratio (sHR)
- 0.8 (0.7, 0.9) (95% CI)
- Discontinuation for clinical response (most common reason), per 100 patient-years — Anti-topoisomerase-I negativity, sHR
- 0.4 (0.2, 0.9) (95% CI)
- Discontinuation for clinical response (most common reason), per 100 patient-years — Previous digital ulcers, sHR
- 2.6 (1.1, 6.2) (95% CI)
- Discontinuation for clinical response (most common reason), per 100 patient-years — No history of arthritis, sHR
- 0.3 (0.1, 0.8) (95% CI)
- Discontinuation for treatment failure (second cause), per 100 patient-years — Anti-centromere antibody positivity, sHR
- 2.8 (1.1, 7.4) (95% CI)
- Discontinuation for treatment failure (second cause), per 100 patient-years — Anti-topoisomerase-I negativity, sHR
- 0.2 (0.1, 0.6) (95% CI)
Safety
Discontinuation due to adverse events (least common cause), rate per 100 patient-years
- Rate of rituximab discontinuation due to adverse events (AEs), per 100 patient-years
- 3.1 (95% CI 1.7, 5.2)
- Associated with limited cutaneous subset, sHR
- 3.4 (95% CI 1.2, 9.7)
- Associated with previous MMF treatment, sHR
- 4.5 (95% CI 1.2, 16.3)
Original publication
Rituximab retention rate in systemic sclerosis: a long term real-life multicentre study. Rheumatology (Oxford). Published 15 May 2024. doi:10.
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