Persistence and Adherence to Biologic Therapies in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
Abstract BackgroundJuvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) is a chronic inflammatory disease that often requires the use of biological therapies to control disease activity. Persistence and adherence to treatment are important aspects on which we have scarce information.MethodsWe performed a longitudinal, retrospective, and observational study based on daily clinical management of JIA patients. We calculated the clinical remission status at 6 and 12 months. Persistence of biological therapy was evaluated by Kaplan-Meier curves and adherence by the Medication Possession Ratio (MPR).ResultsWe included 68 patients who received biological therapy. Of these, 11 (16.2%) and 5 (7.4%) required a second and third biological, respectively. Persistence rate of biological therapies at 5 years was 64%, with no differences between the first and second biological line. Adherence was high the first year of treatment (MPR80: 96.3%) as well as the second and third years (MPR80: 85.2% and 91.8% respectively).ConclusionsPersistence and adherence to biological therapies were remarkably high in our JIA cohort. Adherence to biological treatments could be related to a higher probability of accomplishing Wallace remission criteria at 6 months, but it was not confirmed at 12 months.