Epidemiological Characteristics and Adverse Events of Patients with Psoriatic Arthritis Undergoing Treatment with Biological Therapies in Galicia. / Características epidemiológicas y eventos adversos de los pacientes con artritis psoriásica en tratamiento con terapias biológicas en Galicia.

Patients with severe forms of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) usually require treatment with biological agents. A greater knowledge of this subgroup of patients and their treatment enables better decision making in real clinical practice. METHODS: Longitudinal, multicentric observational study. We included all patients older than 16 years diagnosed with PsA in treatment with biological therapies from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2015 treated in 6 Galician hospitals. RESULTS: Six hundred and fourpatients with PsA received biological therapies. Etanercept was the most used biological treatment. The average time of follow-up was 2.5 years and 67.9% were being treated with the first biological treatment. They were mostly patients with the peripheral subtype and met the criteria for clinical remission. Thirty-two percent had positive HLA-B27 and it was associated with axial PA subtypes. The prevalence of tuberculosis treated previously was 5.9%, and 23% of patients received chemoprophylaxis for latent tuberculosis. Twenty-four patients had undergone a prosthetic replacement. Hip prosthesis was the most frequent. Ninety-nine cases were treated for affective disorders. A diagnosis of fibromyalgia was established in 11 cases mostly women. Of the cases, 6.6% had episodes of serious infections, with respiratory infections being the most frequent. Sixteen tumours were detected (2.9%). Prostate cancer and gynaecological tumours were the most frequent. As with infections, the greater the age the greater the risk of presenting a tumour. CONCLUSIONS: We describe the epidemiological and safety characteristics in real life of a Galician multicentre cohort of patients with psoriatic arthritis under biological treatment.

SER recommendations on the use of biological drugs in primary Sjögren's syndrome. / Recomendaciones SER sobre la utilización de fármacos biológicos en el síndrome de Sjögren primario.

OBJECTIVE: To formulate SER recommendations for the use of biological agents in primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS). METHODS: Relevant clinical research questions were identified on the use of biological agents in pSS. The clinical questions were reformulated into 4PICO questions. A search strategy was designed and a review of the scientific evidence of studies published until May 2017 was carried out. The scientific evidence available was systematically reviewed. The overall level of scientific evidence was assessed using the SIGN evidence levels. After that, specific recommendations were made. RESULTS: Rituximab is recommended as the biological agent of choice for extraglandular manifestations refractory to conventional treatment. The use of anti-TNF agents is discouraged. The scientific evidence with belimumab and abatacept is scarce, so they should be considered only in cases refractory to rituximab. CONCLUSIONS: Rituximab is the biological agent of choice in severe extraglandular manifestations of pSS. Belimumab or abatacept may be useful in selected cases.