Golimumab retention in patients with psoriatic arthritis and axial spondyloarthritis: evidence from up to a decade of follow-up

Background While there are relatively large number of studies on the retention of biologics in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), very long-term retention studies are scarce.Research design and methods Retrospective longitudinal study including patients with up to a decade of follow-up. Survival rate was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier curves and drug discontinuation-associated factors using multivariate Cox regression. Hazard Ratio (HR) was used as a measure of the association.Results Ninety PsA patients and 93 with axSpA were included. Retention rate ranged from 64% at year 1 to 25% at year 11 in PsA, whereas in axSpA, these figures ranged from 68% at year 1 to 34% at year 12. The rate of any event leading to drug discontinuation was 20.9/100PYs and 14.8/100PYs in PsA and axSpA, respectively. Age at arthritis onset (HR 0.93, 95%CI: 0.87–0.99, p = 0.048) and psoriasis duration (HR 1.08, 95%CI: 1.0–1.2, p = 0.036) were linked to drug discontinuation in PsA. In axSpA, retention rate was significantly higher in men compared to women (long-rank p = 0.037).Conclusion In this real-world study, a non-negligible retention of GOL is observed. The two diseases differ in the factors that appear to determine drug persistence.