Abstract
Background
There has been a more pronounced shift toward earlier, more aggressive therapies in Crohn’s disease than in ulcerative colitis (UC). The aim of this study was to describe the pre-biologic treatment and health care experience, including co-morbidities and overall health care utilization, for UC patients who initiated biologic therapies, in the 5 years prior to the initiation of the first biologic agent.
Methods
UC patients who initiated a biologic agent approved for UC between 9/15/2005 and 1/30/2018 were identified from the IBM® MarketScan® Commercial Database, a large US database. The date of the first recorded UC biologic exposure was defined as the index date, and ≥ 5 years of pre-index records were required to evaluate patients’ treatment, disease progression and overall health care utilization prior to initiating biologic agents.
Results
Among the 1891 eligible patients, treatment with oral corticosteroids, 5-aminosalicylates, and other non-biologic immunomodulators, all increased progressively across the 5 years prior to the index. From within year-five to within year-one prior to the index, the median duration of oral corticosteroid treatment increased from 34 to 88 days per year and the proportion of patients who experienced more extensive/pancolitis disease increased from 16 to 59%. Overall, the frequency of all-cause health care visits also increased.
Conclusions
Patients with UC experienced increasing morbidity and treatment burden in the 5 years prior to initiating biologic therapy. To achieve reduced corticosteroids in UC management, better risk stratification is needed to help identify patients for more timely biologic treatment.
Understanding patient journey in ulcerative colitis prior to biologic initiation: a 5-year exploration