Background
Preference assessments of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) help inform clinical therapeutic decisions for including biologic and targeted synthetic drugs to use. This study assesses patient preferences for biologics or Janus kinases (JAK) inhibitors and heterogeneity within these preferences to estimate the relative importance of treatment characteristics and to calculate the minimum benefit levels patients require to accept higher levels of side effects.
Methods
Between November 2018 to August 2019, patients were recruited to participate in a survey containing demographic and disease-related questions as well as a Discrete Choice Experiment to measure their preferences for second-line therapies using biologics or JAK inhibitors. Treatment characteristics (attributes) included in the DCE were mode of administration, frequency of use, probability of mild short-term side effects, probability of side effects affecting appearance, probability of psychological side effects, probability of severe side effects, and effectiveness of treatment.
Results
A total of 358 patients were included in the analysis. Latent class analysis revealed three preference patterns. When choosing treatment, the respondents found either effectiveness of treatment, mode of administration, or probability of severe side effects as most important. In addition, disease duration and mild side effects influenced the patients’ choices.
Conclusion
Respondents found either effectiveness, severe side effects, or mode of administration as the most important attribute. Patients noting effectiveness as most important were more willing than other patients to accept higher risks of side effects.