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array:23 [ "pii" => "S2173574324000261" "issn" => "21735743" "doi" => "10.1016/j.reumae.2024.02.003" "estado" => "S300" "fechaPublicacion" => "2024-03-01" "aid" => "1728" "copyright" => "Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Reumatología y Colegio Mexicano de Reumatología" "copyrightAnyo" => "2023" "documento" => "article" "crossmark" => 1 "subdocumento" => "fla" "cita" => "Reumatol Clin. 2024;20:128-35" "abierto" => array:3 [ "ES" => false "ES2" => false "LATM" => false ] "gratuito" => false "lecturas" => array:1 [ "total" => 0 ] "itemSiguiente" => array:19 [ "pii" => "S2173574324000224" "issn" => "21735743" "doi" => "10.1016/j.reumae.2024.02.001" "estado" => "S300" "fechaPublicacion" => "2024-03-01" "aid" => "1732" "copyright" => "Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Reumatología y Colegio Mexicano de Reumatología" "documento" => "article" "crossmark" => 1 "subdocumento" => "fla" "cita" => "Reumatol Clin. 2024;20:136-41" "abierto" => array:3 [ "ES" => false "ES2" => false "LATM" => false ] "gratuito" => false "lecturas" => array:1 [ "total" => 0 ] "en" => array:12 [ "idiomaDefecto" => true "cabecera" => "<span class="elsevierStyleTextfn">Original Article</span>" "titulo" => "Elderly-onset rheumatoid arthritis receives less aggressive therapies than young-onset rheumatoid arthritis in an Argentinian cohort" "tienePdf" => "en" "tieneTextoCompleto" => "en" "tieneResumen" => array:2 [ 0 => "en" 1 => "es" ] "paginas" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "paginaInicial" => "136" "paginaFinal" => "141" ] ] "titulosAlternativos" => array:1 [ "es" => array:1 [ "titulo" => "La artritis reumatoidea de inicio en el anciano recibe terapias menos agresivas que la artritis reumatoidea de inicio en el adulto en una cohorte Argentina" ] ] "contieneResumen" => array:2 [ "en" => true "es" => true ] "contieneTextoCompleto" => array:1 [ "en" => true ] "contienePdf" => array:1 [ "en" => true ] "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "autoresLista" => "Nicolás Pérez, María de Los Ángeles Gargiulo, Marina Khoury, Lorena Suárez, María de los Ángeles Correa, Mariana Pera, Natali Saravia, Graciela Gómez" "autores" => array:8 [ 0 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "Nicolás" "apellidos" => "Pérez" ] 1 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "María de Los Ángeles" "apellidos" => "Gargiulo" ] 2 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "Marina" "apellidos" => "Khoury" ] 3 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "Lorena" "apellidos" => "Suárez" ] 4 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "María de los Ángeles" "apellidos" => "Correa" ] 5 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "Mariana" "apellidos" => "Pera" ] 6 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "Natali" "apellidos" => "Saravia" ] 7 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "Graciela" "apellidos" => "Gómez" ] ] ] ] ] "idiomaDefecto" => "en" "Traduccion" => array:1 [ "es" => array:9 [ "pii" => "S1699258X23002486" "doi" => "10.1016/j.reuma.2023.10.004" "estado" => "S300" "subdocumento" => "" "abierto" => array:3 [ "ES" => true "ES2" => true "LATM" => true ] "gratuito" => true "lecturas" => array:1 [ "total" => 0 ] "idiomaDefecto" => "es" "EPUB" => "https://multimedia.elsevier.es/PublicationsMultimediaV1/item/epub/S1699258X23002486?idApp=UINPBA00004M" ] ] "EPUB" => "https://multimedia.elsevier.es/PublicationsMultimediaV1/item/epub/S2173574324000224?idApp=UINPBA00004M" "url" => "/21735743/0000002000000003/v1_202403161106/S2173574324000224/v1_202403161106/en/main.assets" ] "itemAnterior" => array:18 [ "pii" => "S217357432400025X" "issn" => "21735743" "doi" => "10.1016/j.reumae.2023.11.002" "estado" => "S300" "fechaPublicacion" => "2024-03-01" "aid" => "1738" "copyright" => "Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Reumatología y Colegio Mexicano de Reumatología" "documento" => "article" "crossmark" => 1 "subdocumento" => "fla" "cita" => "Reumatol Clin. 2024;20:123-7" "abierto" => array:3 [ "ES" => false "ES2" => false "LATM" => false ] "gratuito" => false "lecturas" => array:1 [ "total" => 0 ] "en" => array:13 [ "idiomaDefecto" => true "cabecera" => "<span class="elsevierStyleTextfn">Original article</span>" "titulo" => "Is the use of secukinumab after anti-TNF therapy greater than expected for the risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease?" "tienePdf" => "en" "tieneTextoCompleto" => "en" "tieneResumen" => array:2 [ 0 => "en" 1 => "es" ] "paginas" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "paginaInicial" => "123" "paginaFinal" => "127" ] ] "titulosAlternativos" => array:1 [ "es" => array:1 [ "titulo" => "El uso de secukinumab tras la terapia anti-TNF es mayor de lo esperado por el riesgo de desarrollar enfermedad inflamatoria intestinal?" ] ] "contieneResumen" => array:2 [ "en" => true "es" => true ] "contieneTextoCompleto" => array:1 [ "en" => true ] "contienePdf" => array:1 [ "en" => true ] "resumenGrafico" => array:2 [ "original" => 0 "multimedia" => array:7 [ "identificador" => "fig0005" "etiqueta" => "Fig. 1" "tipo" => "MULTIMEDIAFIGURA" "mostrarFloat" => true "mostrarDisplay" => false "figura" => array:1 [ 0 => array:4 [ "imagen" => "gr1.jpeg" "Alto" => 798 "Ancho" => 3434 "Tamanyo" => 171894 ] ] "descripcion" => array:1 [ "en" => "<p id="spar0045" class="elsevierStyleSimplePara elsevierViewall">OR value for IBD in patients using secukinumab after anti-TNF was 8.71 (2.33–32.63) when compared to those using first-choice secukinumab.</p>" ] ] ] "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "autoresLista" => "Fatih Albayrak, Mustafa Gür, Ahmet Karataş, Süleyman Serdar Koca, Bünyamin Kısacık" "autores" => array:5 [ 0 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "Fatih" "apellidos" => "Albayrak" ] 1 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "Mustafa" "apellidos" => "Gür" ] 2 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "Ahmet" "apellidos" => "Karataş" ] 3 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "Süleyman Serdar" "apellidos" => "Koca" ] 4 => array:2 [ "nombre" => "Bünyamin" "apellidos" => "Kısacık" ] ] ] ] ] "idiomaDefecto" => "en" "EPUB" => "https://multimedia.elsevier.es/PublicationsMultimediaV1/item/epub/S217357432400025X?idApp=UINPBA00004M" "url" => "/21735743/0000002000000003/v1_202403161106/S217357432400025X/v1_202403161106/en/main.assets" ] "en" => array:21 [ "idiomaDefecto" => true "cabecera" => "<span class="elsevierStyleTextfn">Original Article</span>" "titulo" => "The impact of COVID-19 and other factors on the usage status of the biologic drug therapies for rheumatoid arthritis: A study from Vietnam" "tieneTextoCompleto" => true "paginas" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "paginaInicial" => "128" "paginaFinal" => "135" ] ] "autores" => array:1 [ 0 => array:4 [ "autoresLista" => "Hai-Binh Bui, Hong-Thinh Lai, Thanh-Lam Nguyen, Thuy-Duong Vu, Nhat-Le Bui, Van-Hung Nguyen, Thi-To-Chau Tran, Thi-Phuong-Thuy Nguyen, Thi-Ngoc-Lan Nguyen, Jaffar A. Al-Tawfiq, Dinh-Toi Chu" "autores" => array:11 [ 0 => array:3 [ "nombre" => "Hai-Binh" "apellidos" => "Bui" "referencia" => array:2 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etiqueta" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSup">a</span>" "identificador" => "aff0005" ] 1 => array:2 [ "etiqueta" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSup">1</span>" "identificador" => "fn0005" ] ] ] 1 => array:3 [ "nombre" => "Hong-Thinh" "apellidos" => "Lai" "referencia" => array:2 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etiqueta" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSup">b</span>" "identificador" => "aff0010" ] 1 => array:2 [ "etiqueta" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSup">1</span>" "identificador" => "fn0005" ] ] ] 2 => array:3 [ "nombre" => "Thanh-Lam" "apellidos" => "Nguyen" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etiqueta" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSup">c</span>" "identificador" => "aff0015" ] ] ] 3 => array:3 [ "nombre" => "Thuy-Duong" "apellidos" => "Vu" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etiqueta" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSup">c</span>" "identificador" => "aff0015" ] ] ] 4 => array:3 [ "nombre" => "Nhat-Le" "apellidos" => "Bui" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etiqueta" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSup">c</span>" "identificador" => "aff0015" ] ] ] 5 => array:3 [ "nombre" => "Van-Hung" "apellidos" => "Nguyen" "referencia" => array:2 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etiqueta" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSup">a</span>" "identificador" => "aff0005" ] 1 => array:2 [ "etiqueta" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSup">d</span>" "identificador" => "aff0020" ] ] ] 6 => array:3 [ "nombre" => "Thi-To-Chau" "apellidos" => "Tran" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etiqueta" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSup">a</span>" "identificador" => "aff0005" ] ] ] 7 => array:3 [ "nombre" => "Thi-Phuong-Thuy" "apellidos" => "Nguyen" "referencia" => array:2 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etiqueta" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSup">a</span>" "identificador" => "aff0005" ] 1 => array:2 [ "etiqueta" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSup">d</span>" "identificador" => "aff0020" ] ] ] 8 => array:3 [ "nombre" => "Thi-Ngoc-Lan" "apellidos" => "Nguyen" "referencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etiqueta" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSup">d</span>" "identificador" => "aff0020" ] ] ] 9 => array:3 [ "nombre" => "Jaffar A." "apellidos" => "Al-Tawfiq" "referencia" => array:3 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etiqueta" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSup">e</span>" "identificador" => "aff0025" ] 1 => array:2 [ "etiqueta" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSup">f</span>" "identificador" => "aff0030" ] 2 => array:2 [ "etiqueta" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSup">g</span>" "identificador" => "aff0035" ] ] ] 10 => array:4 [ "nombre" => "Dinh-Toi" "apellidos" => "Chu" "email" => array:2 [ 0 => "toicd@vnu.edu.vn" 1 => "chudinhtoi.hnue@gmail.com" ] "referencia" => array:3 [ 0 => array:2 [ "etiqueta" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSup">c</span>" "identificador" => "aff0015" ] 1 => array:2 [ "etiqueta" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSup">h</span>" "identificador" => "aff0040" ] 2 => array:2 [ "etiqueta" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSup">*</span>" "identificador" => "cor0005" ] ] ] ] "afiliaciones" => array:8 [ 0 => array:3 [ "entidad" => "Department of Rheumatology, Bach Mai Hospital, Hanoi 100000, Viet Nam" "etiqueta" => "a" "identificador" => "aff0005" ] 1 => array:3 [ "entidad" => "Department of Neurology and Rheumatology, Ha Nam Provincial General Hospital, Hanam, Viet Nam" "etiqueta" => "b" "identificador" => "aff0010" ] 2 => array:3 [ "entidad" => "Center for Biomedicine and Community Health, International School, Vietnam National University, Hanoi 100000, Viet Nam" "etiqueta" => "c" "identificador" => "aff0015" ] 3 => array:3 [ "entidad" => "Internal Medicine Department, Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi, Viet Nam" "etiqueta" => "d" "identificador" => "aff0020" ] 4 => array:3 [ "entidad" => "Infectious Disease Unit, Specialty Internal Medicine, Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia" "etiqueta" => "e" "identificador" => "aff0025" ] 5 => array:3 [ "entidad" => "Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA" "etiqueta" => "f" "identificador" => "aff0030" ] 6 => array:3 [ "entidad" => "Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA" "etiqueta" => "g" "identificador" => "aff0035" ] 7 => array:3 [ "entidad" => "Faculty of Applied Sciences, International School, Vietnam National University, Hanoi 100000, Viet Nam" "etiqueta" => "h" "identificador" => "aff0040" ] ] "correspondencia" => array:1 [ 0 => array:3 [ "identificador" => "cor0005" "etiqueta" => "⁎" "correspondencia" => "Corresponding author." ] ] ] ] "titulosAlternativos" => array:1 [ "es" => array:1 [ "titulo" => "El impacto de COVID-19 y otros factores en el estado de uso de las terapias farmacológicas biológicas para la artritis reumatoide: un estudio de Vietnam" ] ] "resumenGrafico" => array:2 [ "original" => 0 "multimedia" => array:7 [ "identificador" => "fig0005" "etiqueta" => "Fig. 1" "tipo" => "MULTIMEDIAFIGURA" "mostrarFloat" => true "mostrarDisplay" => false "figura" => array:1 [ 0 => array:4 [ "imagen" => "gr1.jpeg" "Alto" => 986 "Ancho" => 3175 "Tamanyo" => 171303 ] ] "descripcion" => array:1 [ "en" => "<p id="spar0045" class="elsevierStyleSimplePara elsevierViewall">The usage status of biologic drug therapies for rheumatoid arthritis. (A) Study subjects’ usage status of biologic drug based on treatment sessions; (B) probability of overall bDMARDs maintaining over time using Kaplan–Meier method; (C) probability of the first-used bDMARD maintaining over time using Kaplan–Meier method.</p>" ] ] ] "textoCompleto" => "<span class="elsevierStyleSections"><span id="sec0005" class="elsevierStyleSection elsevierViewall"><span class="elsevierStyleSectionTitle" id="sect0070">Introduction</span><p id="par0005" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune type of arthritis that is caused by both genetic and extrinsic environmental factors.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0225"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">1</span></a> About 1% of the population is suffering from the consequences of this disease. People with RA are at high risk of disability, loss of work capacity, and death.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0230"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">2</span></a> Therefore, biological Disease Modifying Anti Rheumatic Drugs (bDMARDs) have been developed as an effective method to improve treatment outcomes and prognosis of the disease.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRefs" href="#bib0230"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">2,3</span></a> Currently approved bDMARDs have four modes of action: (1) tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) inhibitors; (2) interleukin-6 (IL-6) inhibitors and interleukin-6 receptor (IL-6R) inhibitors; (3) inhibitors of co-stimulatory molecules; and (4) B-cell depletion antibodies. Some studies showed that the IL-6 inhibitors group is often chosen first when starting treatment.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRefs" href="#bib0240"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">4–6</span></a> In addition, the rate of discontinuations, drug switching and retention time were evaluated as well. Multiple factors including sex, obesity, prior glucocorticoid use, and starting TNF-α inhibitors were strongly associated with retention time.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRefs" href="#bib0245"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">5,6</span></a> Several other studies have compared the effectiveness of bDMARDs with other DMARDs. bDMARDs have been shown to be effective in reducing mortality and stroke compared with controls not receiving bDMARDs, while conventional synthetic DMARDs (csDMARDs) were associated with increased risk of mortality compared with controls.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0255"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">7</span></a></p><p id="par0010" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Vietnam was one of countries having low biologic and targeted synthetic DMARDs (b/tsDMARDs) prescription. Compared to other countries in APLAR RA SIG group (including China, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Kuwait and Nepal, and India), patients from Vietnam had low usage of b/tsDMARDs while having higher rates of GC usage which was co-prescribed with csDMARDs.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0260"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">8</span></a> Unfortunately, we could not find any research about factors on the usage status of bDMARDs for RA in Vietnam.</p><p id="par0015" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">During the COVID-19 pandemic, the authorities began postponing and reducing outpatient visits and non-emergency surgery to relieve the burden on healthcare systems and to lower the infection risk.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0265"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">9</span></a> For example, visits in outpatients’ emergency department from January to August in 2020 was lower than in 2019 in Utah by 8.1%, and the largest reduce was in April 2020 with 30.4%.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0270"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">10</span></a> In this pandemic, it is important to care for COVID-19 as well as non-COVID-19 patients,<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0275"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">11</span></a> including maintaining medication especially for patients suffering from autoimmune diseases like RA. Although it has to be balanced with the concerns of preventing SARS-CoV-2 spread and protecting patients.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0280"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">12</span></a> In the United States, 14.9% of patients discontinued DMARDs and more frequent stopping was associated with bDMARDs/Janus kinase inhibitor and greater concern about COVID-19.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0285"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">13</span></a> In term of using bDMARDs in RA patients, researchers had shown a high rate of drug discontinuation during COVID-19 pandemic. It was reported that 13.8% of RA patients in Treasure registry of Turkey discontinued their bDMARDs.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0290"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">14</span></a> Furthermore, comparing the rate of bDMARDs weekly use during 2019–2020 in Lazio, Italy, a decrease of 25.5% in RA patients was reported during lockown.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0295"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">15</span></a> In Denmark, the percentage of patients reported to have changed bDMARDs dosage was 6% in March 2020 and about half of patients changed their dosages due to fear of COVID-19.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0300"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">16</span></a></p><p id="par0020" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">In general, bDMARDs are very important in the treatment of RA and have only been applied in Vietnam for a short time, thus there were few studies about this topic. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has a great impact on clinical visit of RA outpatients. Thus, we conducted this study on RA patients in Vietnam with two objectives: firstly, to evaluate the patient's ability to maintain bDMARDs medication during the COVID-19 pandemic, and secondly to find out related factors affecting their abilities. In addition, research on the effect of this pandemic on the usage of bDAMRDs is essential to assess the consequences on patients’ health status.</p></span><span id="sec0010" class="elsevierStyleSection elsevierViewall"><span class="elsevierStyleSectionTitle" id="sect0075">Subjects and methods</span><span id="sec0015" class="elsevierStyleSection elsevierViewall"><span class="elsevierStyleSectionTitle" id="sect0080">Study population</span><p id="par0025" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">The study population included 219 RA patients aged 18 years old or older who had used biological drugs at the Department of Rheumatology in Bach Mai Hospital from January 2017 to December 2020 and did not have other autoimmune diseases. Such patients had sufficient medical records from the first bDMARD treatment, consented to participate in the study and answered all questions in the study medical records. The research was approved by the Ethics Committee in Biomedical Research of Bach Mai Hospital according to Decision numbered: 2051/BVBM-HĐĐĐ.</p></span><span id="sec0020" class="elsevierStyleSection elsevierViewall"><span class="elsevierStyleSectionTitle" id="sect0085">Method</span><p id="par0030" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall"><ul class="elsevierStyleList" id="lis0005"><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0005"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">-</span><p id="par0035" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Study design: a cross-sectional study with retrospective and prospective data collection.</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0010"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">-</span><p id="par0040" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Sample size: we use the formula belowed to estimate a proportion.</p></li></ul><elsevierMultimedia ident="eq0005"></elsevierMultimedia></p><p id="par0045" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">In there:<ul class="elsevierStyleList" id="lis0010"><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0015"><p id="par0050" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall"><span class="elsevierStyleItalic">n</span>: minimum sample size needed.</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0020"><p id="par0055" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall"><span class="elsevierStyleItalic">α</span>: statistical significance level. In this study, <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">α</span><span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>=<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>0.05 (95% confidence level).</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0025"><p id="par0060" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall"><span class="elsevierStyleItalic">Z</span><span class="elsevierStyleInf">(1−<span class="elsevierStyleItalic">α</span>/2)</span><span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>=<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>1.96 corresponding to the level of statistical significance <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">α</span><span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>=<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>0.05.</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0030"><p id="par0065" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall"><span class="elsevierStyleItalic">Δ</span>: random error, we choose <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">Δ</span><span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>=<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>0.05.</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0035"><p id="par0070" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall"><span class="elsevierStyleItalic">p</span><span class="elsevierStyleInf">1</span>: percentage of patients who started treatment with a biologic drug of the TNFi group in a previous study (95.4%),<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0305"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">17</span></a> from which <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">n</span><span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>=<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>68 was calculated. Thus, 68 patients were the minimum sample size. In this study, we recruited a total of 219 patients.</p></li></ul><ul class="elsevierStyleList" id="lis0015"><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0040"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">-</span><p id="par0075" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Place of study: the Department of Rheumatology in Bach Mai Hospital.</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0045"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">-</span><p id="par0080" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Sample collection: we use purposeful sampling: RA patients who satisfy the selection criteria treated with biological drugs at the Department of Rheumatology in Bach Mai Hospital from January 1, 2017, to the end of December 31, 2020 were recruited.</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0050"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">-</span><p id="par0085" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Some definitions:<ul class="elsevierStyleList" id="lis0020"><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0055"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">•</span><p id="par0090" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Dose tapering: the interval in which the previous course of treatment is longer than recommended.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0310"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">18</span></a></p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0060"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">•</span><p id="par0095" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Drug discontinuation: the interval in which the previous treatment is three times longer than recommended.<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0310"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">18</span></a></p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0065"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">•</span><p id="par0100" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Drug switch: when a patient switch to a different drug and does not stop taking it.</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0070"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">•</span><p id="par0105" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Overall bDMARDs retention time: time from the first dose of first-used bDMARD to the last dose of last-used bDMARD.</p></li><li class="elsevierStyleListItem" id="lsti0075"><span class="elsevierStyleLabel">•</span><p id="par0110" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">First-used bDMARD retention time: time from the first dose to the last dose of first-used use bDMARD.</p></li></ul></p></li></ul></p></span><span id="sec0025" class="elsevierStyleSection elsevierViewall"><span class="elsevierStyleSectionTitle" id="sect0090">Statistical analysis</span><p id="par0115" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">The data were entered into Excel and SPSS 20 software was used for analysis. To estimate the retention time and compare between groups, we used the log-rank test (<span class="elsevierStyleItalic">p</span><span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span><<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>0.05) and the Kaplan–Meier method. Cox regression analysis was used to determine the factors affecting the time patients maintained biological drugs (<span class="elsevierStyleItalic">p</span><span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span><<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>0.05).</p></span></span><span id="sec0030" class="elsevierStyleSection elsevierViewall"><span class="elsevierStyleSectionTitle" id="sect0095">Results</span><span id="sec0035" class="elsevierStyleSection elsevierViewall"><span class="elsevierStyleSectionTitle" id="sect0100">Characteristics of studied subjects</span><p id="par0120" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Out of 219 RA patients, 85.4% were females, and the majority (91.8%) of patients were more than 40 years old. The proportions of patients in urban and rural areas were 50.7% and 49.3%, respectively. The percentage of patients having a history of tuberculosis or latent tuberculosis was 13.2%, hepatitis B was 3.7% and cancer was 0.5% (<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#tbl0005">Table 1</a>). The vast majority of patients had moderate to high disease activity level, while only 8.2% was at low level. Most of patients was firstly prescribed with an IL-6 inhibitor (78.5%) and 83.6% of patients were using corticoid.</p><elsevierMultimedia ident="tbl0005"></elsevierMultimedia></span><span id="sec0040" class="elsevierStyleSection elsevierViewall"><span class="elsevierStyleSectionTitle" id="sect0105">The usage status of the biologic drug therapies for rheumatoid arthritis</span><p id="par0125" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Among a total of 1967 biologic courses of treatment, there were 149 (7.6%) drug discontinuations, 760 (38.6%) dose tapering, and 64 (3.3%) drug switchs. Using the Kaplan–Meier method to estimate the overall bDMARDs retention time and first-used bDMARD retention time, the data showed 49 weeks (95% CI: 37.83–60.17) and 34 weeks (23.51–44.49) respectively (<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#fig0005">Fig. 1</a>A–C).</p><elsevierMultimedia ident="fig0005"></elsevierMultimedia></span><span id="sec0045" class="elsevierStyleSection elsevierViewall"><span class="elsevierStyleSectionTitle" id="sect0110">The effect of COVID-19 on the usage status of biologic drug therapies for rheumatoid arthritis</span><p id="par0130" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">The log-rank test showed that there was a statistically significant difference in discontinuation time between the pre- and during COVID-19 groups in both the overall bDMARDs and first-used bDMARD (<span class="elsevierStyleItalic">p</span><span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>=<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>0.047, and 0.039, respectively) (<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#tbl0010">Table 2</a>).</p><elsevierMultimedia ident="tbl0010"></elsevierMultimedia><p id="par0135" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Beside the retention time, we also compared the number of other events occurred during bDMARDs treatment between two times. The rates of drug discontinuation and dose tapering before the COVID-19 pandemic were lower than during the pandemic with <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">p</span><span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span><<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>0.001 (<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#tbl0015">Table 3</a>). However, the rates of drug switch before the pandemic and during the pandemic were not statistically different (<span class="elsevierStyleItalic">p</span><span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>><span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>0.05).</p><elsevierMultimedia ident="tbl0015"></elsevierMultimedia></span><span id="sec0050" class="elsevierStyleSection elsevierViewall"><span class="elsevierStyleSectionTitle" id="sect0115">The effects of related factors on both overall and first-used bDMARD retention time</span><p id="par0140" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">Of the 119 patients who started using biologic drugs before the COVID-19 pandemic, female patients had a longer retention time than male (HR<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>=<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>0.554, <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">p</span><span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span><<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>0.05). Patients who started treatment with a TNF inhibitor had a shorter overall retention time than those started with an IL-6 inhibitor (HR<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>=<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>1.663, <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">p</span><span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span><<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>0.05). Patients who used 1, 2, and 3 csDMARDs had a longer duration of maintenance on biologic drugs than those treated without csDMARDs (HR<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>=<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>0.302, 0.388, and 0.05; <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">p</span><span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>=<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>0.009, 0.046, and <0.001, respectively). People who used corticoid at the start of treatment had a shorter retention time than those who used non-csDMARDs (HR<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>=<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>4.086, <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">p</span><span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>=<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>0.002). The factors of location, duration of disease, disease activity levels, number of swollen joints, number of tender joints number of csDMARDs used, glucocorticoid use. Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score did not affect first-used bDMARD retention time (<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#tbl0020">Table 4</a>).</p><elsevierMultimedia ident="tbl0020"></elsevierMultimedia><p id="par0145" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">In 146 patients who started using biologic drugs before the COVID-19 pandemic, patients aged 40–59 had a longer retention time of the first-used bDMARD than those under 40 years old (HR<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>=<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>0.475, <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">p</span><span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span><<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>0.05) while no difference was found between the group of ≥60 years old and under 40 years old (HR<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>=<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>0.71, <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">p</span><span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>><span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>0.05). Female patients had a longer retention time than men (HR<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>=<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>0.558, <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">p</span><span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span><<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>0.05). Patients who started treatment with a TNF inhibitor had a shorter retention time than with an IL-6 inhibitor (HR<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>=<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>1.582, <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">p</span><span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span><<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>0.05). Factors including location, duration of disease, disease activity levels, number of csDMARDs, number of swollen joints, number of tender joints, glucocorticoid usage, and VAS score when starting using bDMARDs did not show any association with the retention time of the first-used bDAMRD (<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#tbl0020">Table 4</a>).</p><p id="par0150" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">In terms of factors related to overall retention time of 23 patients treated since the pandemic, age, number of swollen joints, number of tender joints, and VAS score failed to be associated with retention time (<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#tbl0025">Table 5</a>).</p><elsevierMultimedia ident="tbl0025"></elsevierMultimedia><p id="par0155" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">In the group of 23 patients starting using bDMARDs since the pandemic, higher the VAS score had an association with the longer retention time of the first bMARD. Age, number of swollen joints and number of tender joints at the beginning of treatment did not affect this retention time (<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#tbl0025">Table 5</a>).</p></span><span id="sec0055" class="elsevierStyleSection elsevierViewall"><span class="elsevierStyleSectionTitle" id="sect0120">Other factors related to the usage status of biologic drug therapies for rheumatoid arthritis</span><p id="par0160" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">When using the Cox regression model to determine the influence of factors on the overall and first-used bDMARD retention time, patients with moderate disease activity had a longer retention time than remission or low activity groups (HR<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>=<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>0.485 and 0.501, respectively, both <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">p</span><span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span><<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>0.05). Patients starting with TNF-α inhibitor had shorter overall and first-used bDMARD retention time than the group starting with IL-6 inhibitor (HR<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>=<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>1.545 and 2.419, respectively, both, <span class="elsevierStyleItalic">p</span><span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span><<span class="elsevierStyleHsp" style=""></span>0.05). No association was found with age, gender, place of residence, duration of disease, number of csDMARDs used, previous corticosteroid treatment, number of tender joints, number of swollen joints and VAS control at the start of treatment and the d retention time of overall and the first-used bDMARD (<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#tbl0030">Table 6</a>).</p><elsevierMultimedia ident="tbl0030"></elsevierMultimedia></span></span><span id="sec0060" class="elsevierStyleSection elsevierViewall"><span class="elsevierStyleSectionTitle" id="sect0125">Discussion</span><p id="par0165" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">In this study cohort, the majority (85.4%) of patients were female and more than 90% of patients (91.8%) were over 40 years old. 1967 courses of treatment were examined, in which we counted 149 (7.6%) drug discontinuations, 760 (38.6%) dose tapering and 64 (3.3%) drug switches. Comparing drug usage status before and after COVID-19 pandemic appearance, retention time of biologic drugs, drug discontinuations and dose tapering increased after COVID-19 broke out, while the rate of drug switches was stable. Sex, kind of first bDMARD used, csDMARDs and corticoid usage status, disease activity levels were shown to be associated with retention time.</p><p id="par0170" class="elsevierStylePara elsevierViewall">A total of 760 dose taperings were observed out of a total of 1967 bDMARD treatments. The main causes of the dose taperings include a good response (53.3%), economic impact (32.6%), impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (5.5%), and drug shortage (4.9%). In addition, 15 dose taperings were observed (2%) due to drug side effects, 11 dose taperings (1.4%) were due to no response to treatment (the patient adjusted the dose himself), 1 drug tapering was due to required surgery during the treatment and 1 was for unknown reasons. According to EULAR 2019 guidelines, if a patient is in sustained remission (reaching a mild disease activity level or less, usually in 6 months or more) after a glucocorticoid dose reduction, bDMARD dose reduction or tapering can be considered (however, bDMARD dose reduction or tapering should be applied before those of csDMARD).<a class="elsevierStyleCrossRef" href="#bib0315"><span class="elsevierStyleSup">19</span></a> Regarding bDMARD dose reduction/tapering, according to ACR 2021 guideline,