Table 1.
Characteristics of naive erythropoiesis-stimulating agent (ESA) usersa, stratified by center and type of ESA (reference product versus biosimilar)
| Characteristics | Reference product | Biosimilar | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caserta N = 5070 (%) | Palermo N = 2677 (%) | Treviso N = 792 (%) | Tuscany N = 23,891 (%) | Total N = 32,430 (%) | Caserta N = 1294 (%) | Palermo N = 1029 (%) | Treviso N = 409 (%) | Tuscany N = 6124 (%) | Total N = 8856 (%) | |
| Sex | ||||||||||
| Male | 2545 (50.2) | 1246 (46.5) | 421 (53.2) | 12,263 (51.3) | 16,475 (50.8) | 653 (50.5) | 506 (49.2) | 204 (49.9) | 3133 (51.2) | 4496 (50.8) |
| Female | 2525 (49.8) | 1431 (53.5) | 371 (46.8) | 11,628 (48.7) | 15,955 (49.2) | 641 (49.5) | 523 (50.8) | 205 (50.1) | 2991 (48.8) | 4360 (49.2) |
| Age ± SD | 68.1 ± 15.4 | 72.8 ± 14.0 | 67.6 ± 15.9 | 72.5 ± 14.9 | 71.8 ± 15.1 | 71.9 ± 12.9 | 72.9 ± 13.0 | 73.9 ± 15.2 | 72.4 ± 13.2 | 72.4 ± 13.2 |
| Age category | ||||||||||
| <45 | 409 (8.1) | 124 (4.6) | 67 (8.5) | 1329 (5.6) | 1929 (5.9) | 50 (3.9) | 31 (3.0) | 22 (5.4) | 217 (3.5) | 320 (3.6) |
| 45–64 | 1302 (25.7) | 480 (17.9) | 218 (27.5) | 4479 (18.7) | 6479 (20.0) | 274 (21.2) | 211 (20.5) | 63 (15.4) | 1222 (20.0) | 1770 (20.0) |
| 65–79 | 2124 (41.9) | 1102 (41.2) | 316 (39.9) | 8919 (37.3) | 12,461 (38.4) | 561 (43.4) | 418 (40.6) | 151 (36.9) | 2689 (43.9) | 3819 (43.1) |
| ≥80 | 1235 (24.4) | 971 (36.3) | 191 (24.1) | 9164 (38.4) | 11,561 (35.6) | 409 (31.6) | 369 (35.9) | 173 (42.3) | 1996 (32.6) | 2947 (33.3) |
| Indication for use | ||||||||||
| CKD | 2763 (54.5) | 1724 (64.4) | 394 (49.7) | 13,750 (57.6) | 18,631 (57.4) | 749 (57.9) | 559 (54.3) | 254 (62.1) | 2385 (38.9) | 3947 (44.6) |
| Cancer | 2122 (41.9) | 931 (34.8) | 376 (47.5) | 9745 (40.8) | 13,174 (40.6) | 531 (41.0) | 465 (45.2) | 154 (37.7) | 3678 (60.1) | 4828 (54.5) |
| Myelodysplastic syndrome | 185 (3.6) | 22 (0.8) | 22 (2.8) | 396 (1.7) | 625 (1.9) | 14 (1.1) | 5 (0.5) | 1 (0.2) | 61 (1.0) | 81 (0.9) |
Patients (N = 11) who had received dispensing of both a biosimilar and a reference product at the index date were excluded
CKD chronic kidney disease, SD standard deviation
aESA users without any ESA dispensing in the year prior to the index date (the date of the first dispensing of ESA during the study period)