Adherence to and patient's knowledge of self-management of subcutaneous biologic therapy in chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases: results of a multicentre cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: Non-adherence to biologic therapy is an issue in chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases (CIRDs) and might be related to poor patient knowledge of the risk of these therapies. Our aim here was to evaluate the level of patient adherence to and knowledge of self-care safety skills for biologic therapy. METHODS: This was a multicentre, cross-sectional study in which out-patients visited an office- or hospital-based rheumatologist. All the patients received subcutaneous biologic therapy for CIRDs. We collected data on: 1. the level of CIRD patient adherence to current subcutaneous biologic therapy using both the self-administered Compliance Questionnaire Rheumatology 5 items (CQR5) and a simple adherence question; 2. patients' knowledge of self-management of biologic therapy by the self-administered BIOSECURE questionnaire; 3. sources of information related to biologic therapy. RESULTS: In all, 285 patients (rheumatoid arthritis, n=103; spondyloarthritis, n=153; psoriatic arthritis, n=25) were enrolled by 19 rheumatologists. The mean (SD) biologic therapy duration was 5.9 (4.9) years. Adherence to the current biologic therapy was high (79.3% and 57.5% according to the CQR5 questionnaire and the adherence question, respectively). Level of knowledge of self-care safety skills (median BIOSECURE score 71) was in the acceptable range. Level of adherence and level of knowledge of self-care safety skills for biologic therapy were not associated. Patients declared that the main sources of information were their rheumatologist (92.6%) and the rheumatology team (30.5%). CONCLUSIONS: According to the patients' estimation, adherence to biologic therapy and the level of knowledge of self-care safety skills related to biologic therapy are acceptable, and these domains are not related (e.g. level of adherence and level of knowledge of risks).

Increased high molecular weight adiponectin and lean mass during tocilizumab treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a 12-month multicentre study.

BACKGROUND: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have an increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) disease. Adiponectin is involved in the metabolism of glucose and lipids with favourable effects on CV disease, especially its high molecular weight (HMW) isoform. Body composition changes are described in RA with various phenotypes including obesity. The effects of tocilizumab on serum adiponectin and body composition, especially fat mass, in patients with RA are not well determined. METHODS: Patients with active RA despite previous csDMARDs and/or bDMARDs and who were tocilizumab naïve were enrolled in a multicentre open-label study. They were evaluated at baseline, 1, 3, 6 and 12 months. Clinical assessment included body mass index (BMI) and anthropometric measurements. Lipid and metabolic parameters, serum adiponectin (total and HMW), leptin, resistin and ghrelin were measured at each time point. Body composition (lean mass, fat mass, % fat, fat in the android and gynoid regions) was evaluated at baseline, 6 and 12 months. RESULTS: One hundred seven patients were included. Both total and HMW adiponectin significantly increased from baseline to month 3, peaking respectively at month 3 (p = 0.0105) and month 1 (p < 0.0001), then declining progressively until month 6 to 12 and returning to baseline values. Significant elevation in HMW adiponectin persisted at month 6 (p = 0.001). BMI and waist circumference significantly increased at month 6 and 12, as well as lean mass at month 6 (p = 0.0097). Fat mass, percentage fat and android fat did not change over the study period. Lipid parameters (total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol) increased while glycaemia, insulin and HOMA-IR remained stable. Serum leptin, resistin and ghrelin did not change during follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Tocilizumab treatment in RA patients was associated with a significant increase in total and HMW adiponectin, especially at the onset of the treatment. Tocilizumab also induced a significant gain in lean mass, while fat mass did not change. These variations in adiponectin levels during tocilizumab treatment could have positive effects on the CV risk of RA patients. In addition, tocilizumab may have an anabolic impact on lean mass/skeletal muscle. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The ADIPRAT study was a phase IV open-label multicentre study retrospectively registered on ClinicalTrials.gov under the number NCT02843789 (date of registration: July 26, 2016).

Rituximab alone as induction therapy for membranous lupus nephritis: A multicenter retrospective study.

The optimal treatment for pure membranous lupus nephritis (MLN) remains undetermined. Rituximab constitutes a promising therapeutic option for lupus nephritis and is currently being evaluated for use in idiopathic membranous nephritis. We retrospectively analysed the efficacy and tolerance of rituximab as a monotherapy in the induction treatment of pure MLN.We retrospectively investigated SLE patients with biopsy-proven pure class V lupus nephritis presenting with a protein-to-creatinine ratio of at least 2 g/g and treated with rituximab as monotherapy. A background low dose of corticosteroids (≤20 mg/day) was allowed, as was hydroxychloroquine; higher doses of steroids and/or immunosuppressive drugs fell under the exclusion criteria. Remission status was evaluated at baseline and 6, 12, and 24 months after rituximab.The study included 15 patients (13 women, median age 37 years, 27% with extra-renal manifestations, median SLE duration 1.5 years). The median protein-to-creatinine ratio was 4.9 g/g, 80% of the patients had nephrotic-range proteinuria, the median serum albumin was 24 g/L, the median serum creatinine was 0.7 mg/dL, and the median eGFR was 122 mL/min/1.73 m. The median follow-up was 29 months (6-112 months). Treatment failure occurred in 2 patients. However, remission was recorded in the remaining 13 (87%, complete remission in 8 patients) with a median time to remission of 5 months. Median proteinuria decreased from 4.9 g/g to 0.16 g/g at month 12 and to 0.11 g/g at month 24. Median serum albumin increased to 36.5 g/L at month 24, and all patients had serum albumin levels greater than 30 g/L at month 12. Renal function remained stable in all patients. Relapse of proteinuria was recorded in 3 patients (at 12, 29, and 34 months). No patients experienced serious adverse events.Rituximab as monotherapy may represent an effective treatment for pure MLN with an excellent tolerance profile.