Healthcare resource utilisation and economic burden of patients with adequate and inadequate responses to biological and targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs for rheumatoid arthritis in Japan

Objective To compare healthcare resource utilisation (HCRU) and direct costs between responders versus non-responders to advanced therapies for rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Methods Patients initiating >= 1 advanced therapy (October 2018 - September 2019) with >= 1 RA claim (6-month pre-index period), >= 2 RA claims (any period), and >= 12 months follow-up were identified from the Medical Data Vision claims database. HCRU and all-cause and RA-related costs [direct medical, emergency department (ED), laboratory, and pharmacy] were compared between responders and non-responders. Adjusted incidence rate ratios (IRRs) for HCRU or cost were calculated via multivariable analyses.Results Among 2446 patients [non-responders (n = 1817); responders (n = 629)], non-responders had significantly longer hospitalisation days [IRR: 1.8 (95% CI: 1.2 - 2.6)], and significantly more ED visits [2.5 (1.5 - 4.2)] and prescriptions [1.1 (1.1 - 1.2)]. Mean all-cause hospital/outpatient medical costs were significantly higher for non-responders [1.4 (1.3 - 1.6), yen 530,895 versus yen 357,009 ($3992 versus $2684) for responders; yen 173,886 ($1307) difference]; RA-related medical costs showed a similar trend [ yen 351,306 vs yen 253,030 ($2641 vs $1902); yen 98,276 ($739) difference]. No differences between responders and non-responders were observed in mean all-cause and RA-related pharmacy costs.Conclusions Non-responders to advanced therapies had greater HCRU and all-cause/RA-related direct costs as compared with responders, suggesting a need for more effective RA therapies to reduce the economic burden associated with non-response.