Authors: JinWuk Hur JungYoon Choe DongWook Kim Hyun Ah Kim SangHyon Kim WanUk Kim Yun Sung Kim HyeSoon Lee SangHeon Lee SungHwan Park Won Park YongBeom Park ChangHee Suh SeungCheol Shim YeongWook Song Bo Young Yoon Dae Young Yu Dae Hyun Yoo
Publish Date: 2015/09/05
Volume: 35, Issue: 11, Pages: 1817-1823
Abstract
The aim of this study was to compare antitumor necrosis factorα TNFα treatment status in rheumatoid arthritis RA patients with the Korean National Health Insurance KNHI reimbursement eligibility criteria and with American College of Rheumatology ACR recommendations Japan College of Rheumatology JCR guidelines and British Society for Rheumatology BSR guidelines Between December 2011 and August 2012 outpatients from 17 South Korean general hospitals diagnosed with RA according to the 1987 ACR criteria were enrolled into a noninterventional crosssectional observational study Of 1700 patients 1414 female 832 mean age of 566 ± 120 mean disease duration 979 ± 918 months 306 180 had used antiTNFα agents and 224 132 were currently using an antiTNFα agent Of 1394 antiTNFαnaive patients 32 23 met KNHI reimbursement guidelines 148 106 met ACR recommendations and 127 91 and 126 90 were considered eligible for antiTNFα agents according to JCR and BSR guidelines respectively The main discrepancy was the higher active joint count required by the KNHI eligibility criteria In the opinion of treating rheumatologists the KNHI reimbursement criteria ineligibility accounted for 153 n = 213 of the reasons for not initiating antiTNFα agents in antiTNFαnaive group The antiTNFα user group showed significantly higher disease activity than the antiTNFαnaive group based on DAS28 score In comparison with the ACR recommendations and JCR and BSR guidelines fewer patients met KNHI reimbursement eligibility criteria for antiTNFα agents The current amendment of the KNHI criteria based on DAS28 score will improve an access to biologic agents including antiTNFα treatment for South Korean patients with active RAJinWuk Hur JungYoon Choe DongWook Kim SangHyon Kim WanUk Kim Yun Sung Kim HyeSoon Lee SangHeon Lee SungHwan Park YongBeom Park ChangHee Suh SeungCheol Shim YeongWook Song and Bo Young Yoon declare that they have no conflict of interest Hyun Ah Kim has served on advisory boards for HanmiPharmaceutical and Pfizer Won Park and Dae Hyun Yoo are scientific consultants for Celltrion Dae Young Yu is an employee of Janssen
Keywords: