Real-World Utilization of Biologic and Targeted Synthetic Disease-Modifying Anti-rheumatic Drugs in Psoriatic Arthritis and Axial Spondyloarthritis: Insights from Sweden and Germany
Aim: To describe patient characteristics and dosing patterns in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) patients initiating biologic or targeted synthetic DMARDs (b/tsDMARDs), and to compare treatment patterns between Sweden and Germany.
Methods: Real-world data from the Swedish National Registers (2017–2021) and a German insurance claims database (2018–2021) were analysed. Patients with PsA (Sweden: n=9414; Germany: n=2045) and axSpA (Sweden: n=7763; Germany: n=1756) initiating b/tsDMARDs were included.
Results: Despite shared European treatment guidelines, notable differences in treatment patterns were observed between countries.
Conclusion: Cross-country variation in b/tsDMARD treatment for PsA and axSpA highlights the need for outcome comparisons to evaluate the effectiveness of differing real-world approaches.