Background: Diagnostic pathways for patients presenting with cognitive complaints may vary across geographies. Objective: To describe diagnostic pathways of patients presenting with cognitive complaints across 6 countries. Methods: This real-world, cross-sectional study analyzed chart-extracted data from healthcare providers (HCPs) for 6,744 patients across China, France, Germany, Spain, UK, and the US. Results: Most common symptoms at presentation were cognitive (memory/amnestic; 89.86%), followed by physical/behavioral (87.13%). Clinical/cognitive tests were used in > 95%, with Mini-Mental State Examination being the most common cognitive test (79.0%). Blood tests for APOE ɛ4/other mutations, or to rule out treatable causes, were used in half of the patients. Clinical and cognitive tests were used at higher frequency at earlier visits, and amyloid PET/CSF biomarker testing at higher frequency at later visits. The latter were ordered at low rates even by specialists (across countries, 5.7% to 28.7% for amyloid PET and 5.0% to 27.3% for CSF testing). Approximately half the patients received a diagnosis (52.1% of which were Alzheimer’s disease [AD]). Factors that influenced risk of not receiving a diagnosis were HCP type (higher for primary care physicians versus specialists) and region (highest in China and Germany). Conclusion: These data highlight variability in AD diagnostic pathways across countries and provider types. About 45% of patients are referred/told to ‘watch and wait’. Improvements can be made in the use of amyloid PET and CSF testing. Efforts should focus on further defining biomarkers for those at risk for AD, and on dismantling barriers such low testing capacity and reimbursement challenges.
337 Background: This study aimed to assess treatment adherence, healthcare resource utilization and costs in patients with GI NETs who initiated pharmacologic treatments. Methods: In 2 US commercial claims databases, patients ≥18 years with ≥1 inpatient or ≥2 outpatient claims for GI NETs were identified. The first claim for pharmacologic treatments (e.g. somatostatin analogues [SSAs], cytotoxic chemotherapy [CC], targeted therapy) following diagnosis and between 7/1/2009 and 12/31/2013 was defined as the index date. A 6-month clean period before index date and a 6-month pre- and a ≥1-year post-index enrollment were required. Proportion of days covered (PDC) was calculated during the follow up period. Outcomes were reported separately for patients with 1 and 2 years of post-index enrollment. Descriptive statistics including means, standard deviations, and frequencies and percentages for continuous and categorical data, respectively, were reported. Results: Of 1,322 patients with 1-year of follow-up, 847 initiated SSAs, 397 CC, 35 targeted therapies, 2 interferon, and 41 various combinations. Due to sample sizes, remaining results focus only on SSAs and CC. Mean PDC (SD) was 0.669 (0.331) for SSAs and 0.466 (0.236) for CC; SSA users had 20.5 (13.5) office visits and 0.59 (1.03) hospitalizations, CC users had 30.5 (19.8) and 0.89 (1.45) office visits and hospitalizations respectively; total annual cost for SSA-treated patients during the 1st year was $99,691 (82,423) and $134,912 (116,078) for CC. Among 685 patients with 2 years of follow-up, the annual mean costs in the second year were $8,071 and $58,944 lower than the first year for SSAs and CC, respectively. Conclusions: In this descriptive non-comparative study, we reported the resource utilization and costs associated with different treatment therapies. Overall, costs were higher in the first year than in the second year. This 2-database study offers new information on the magnitude and trends in the cost of pharmacologically treated GI NETs. Additional research with a larger sample size would be needed to better understand real-world utilization and costs for GI NET patients treated with different pharmacological therapies.
Aim: To compare rates of biologic initiation after commencing treatment with apremilast (APR) versus methotrexate (MTX) in systemic-naive patients with psoriasis (PsO). Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of systemic-naive patients with PsO who initiated treatment with APR or MTX between 1 January 2015 and 31 March 2018. Outcomes: Adjusted rates of biologic initiation during follow-up were compared by logistic and Cox regressions. Results: APR initiators had 58% lower likelihood of biologic initiation (odds ratio: 0.42; 95% CI: 0.37–0.48; p < 0.001), lower adjusted biologic initiation rate (14.4% [95% CI: 13.2–15.7%] vs 28.6% [95% CI: 26.8–30.5%]), lower risk of biologic initiation (hazard ratio: 0.45; 95% CI: 0.40–0.51; p < 0.001) compared with MTX initiators. Conclusion: Systemic-naive patients with PsO have a lower rate of biologic initiation over 1 year following APR initiation.
BackgroundDiagnostic pathways from cognitive impairment (CI) to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are complex and vary geographically. This study aimed to quantify and compare the current diagnostic pathways in six countries.MethodsA real‐world, cross‐sectional survey of 1,694 health care professionals (HCPs) was conducted in six countries (US, China, UK, France, Germany and Spain) from October to November 2021. HCPs provided data for 6,744 patients including patient demographics, presenting symptoms, and diagnostic tests and procedures. Descriptive analyses were conducted for all patients and further stratified by countries and HCP types (primary care physicians (PCP) versus specialists (geriatricians, neurologists and psychiatrists)).ResultsMost common presenting symptoms included problems with memory (89.9%), physical/behavioral (87.1%), executive functioning (72.2%) and language (71.4%). 42.1% of patients were presenting to HCPs the first time for their symptoms.96.0% of patients with data on diagnostic tests by country and specialty (n=6,525), underwent clinical and 95.5% cognitive tests, including tests at scheduled follow‐up visits. Mini‐Mental State Examination (MMSE) was the most frequently used cognitive test (n=5,141). About half the patients (n=3,329) received blood‐tests, mainly to rule out other causes of CI (n=2,687) (Table 1).Diagnostic test use varied by country and specialty. In China, cognitive tests, especially MMSE, were more commonly used by specialists (81.9%) than PCPs (41.6%). In the UK blood tests were more commonly used by PCPs (62.5%) than specialists (46.2%).ConclusionDiagnostic pathways varied largely by country and specialty. This study is relevant to populate diagnostic pathways, fill data gaps and advance patient care in AD by supporting future evidence generation, especially when new treatment options arrive.
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