Table 2.
Treatment patterns during the 12-month follow-up period
| Variables | Patients with axSpA receiving ixekizumab (N = 177) |
|---|---|
| Concomitant medicationa, n (%) | |
| NSAIDs | 65 (36.7) |
| Oral corticosteroids | 38 (21.5) |
| csDMARDs | 23 (13.0) |
| Opioids | 11 (6.2) |
| Number of index drug prescription refillsb | |
| Mean (SD) | 7.3 (4.0) |
| Median (IQR) | 7 (4–11) |
| Persistencec (days) | |
| Mean (SD) | 235.4 (127.3) |
| Median (IQR) | 268 (120–366) |
| Discontinuationd, n (%) | 96 (54.2) |
| Re-initiation after discontinuatione, n (%) | 19 (19.8) |
| Switching to non-index medication after discontinuationf, n (%) | 47 (49.0) |
| Proportion of days covered (PDC)g, mean (SD) | 0.6 (0.3) |
| PDC among persistent patients, mean (SD) | 0.8 (0.1) |
| Adherenceh (PDC ≥80%), n (%) | 61 (34.5) |
| Adherence (PDC ≥80%) among persistent patients, n (%) | 60 (74.1) |
| Switching to non-index medication, n (%) | 47 (26.6) |
axSpA Axial spondyloarthritis, csDMARDs conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, IQR inter-quartile range, NSAIDs nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, SD standard deviation
aUse of one or more other concomitant medications during the first 90 days after receiving ixekizumab
bThe total number of unique, paid prescription claims of ixekizumab during the follow-up period
cDays of continuous therapy from ixekizumab initiation until the end of the follow-up period, allowing for a maximum fixed gap of 90 days between prescription refills
dFailure to refill ixekizumab within 90 days after the depletion of the previous days’ supply or presence of an alternative advanced drug. For the remaining 30 patients who discontinued ixekizumab, there was no evidence of restarting ixekizumab or switching to non-index medication during the follow-up period
eProportion of patients who had ixekizumab prescription refills after the discontinuation date until the end of the study period
fPresence of alternative advanced drug in the follow-up period
gAdherence was measured using PDC: number of days with ixekizumab on-hand or exposure to ixekizumab divided by the number of days in the follow-up period, regardless of discontinuation
hPDC ≥80% was defined as “adherent”