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Erschienen in:
07.06.2022 | Originalien
Is tapering or discontinuation of biologic treatment in patients with radiographic and nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis reasonable?
A local cohort study
Erschienen in: Zeitschrift für Rheumatologie | Sonderheft 1/2024
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Objective
We retrospectively determined factors predicting biologic treatment discontinuation or tapering in patients with axSpA.
Materials and methods
We included 63 nonradiographic axSpA (nr-axSpA) and 138 radiographic axSpA (r-axSpA) patients on biologic treatments for at least 1 year. The biologic dosing intervals were increased in patients who had been in remission for at least 6 months. In patients whose biologic dosing intervals could be increased by 100% for at least 6 months, the agents were stopped at the end of that time. In patients for whom the biologic agents were stopped or tapered, relapse was defined as a Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease activity index score > 4 and a CRP level > 10 mg/L.
Results
The median duration of biologic treatment (all patients) was 2 (1–11) years. Logistic regression analysis did not identify any independent predictor of treatment discontinuation. NSAID use was the only independent predictor of tapering (p = 0.001). The time to relapse after tapering was shorter in patients with r‑axSpA than nr-axSpA (25.97 vs. 39.53 months; p = 0.05). The time to relapse in patients with r‑axSpA was considerably shorter than that in patients with nr-axSpA (5.14 vs. 13 months; p = 0.001). All r‑axSpA patients relapsed over the follow-up period; only 2 nr-axSpA patients did not relapse.
Conclusion
The most significant independent predictor of relapse was NSAID use during treatment. For axSpA patients in remission, tapering of the biologic dosing intervals is more appropriate than discontinuation.