High Levels of Polypharmacy in Rheumatoid Arthritis-A Challenge Not Covered by Current Management Recommendations: Data From a Large Real-Life Study

Abstract

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with high frequency of comorbidities and increased risk of polypharmacy. Although there is a great potential for complications, there is a gap in literature on polypharmacy in patients with rheumatic arthritis.

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence and factors associated with polypharmacy in a population in a real-life setting.

Methods: A cross-sectional multicenter study was conducted in Brazil. Patients underwent clinical evaluation and medical records analysis. Polypharmacy was considered as a dependent variable. To test independent variables, we used Poisson regression.

Results: We evaluated 792 patients (89% female, median age 56.6 years). Median duration of disease was 12.7 years, 78.73% had a positive rheumatoid factor. The median of disease activity score-28 was 3.5 (disease with mild activity), median of the clinical disease activity index score was 9, and median of health assessment questionnaire-disability index was 0.875; 47% used corticosteroids, 9.1% used nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, 90.9% used synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, 35.7% used biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). In total, 537 (67.9%) patients used 5 or more drugs. Polypharmacy showed a relationship with a number of comorbidities and use of specific drugs (corticosteroids, methotrexate, and biological DMARDs).

Conclusion: We found a high prevalence of polypharmacy (67.9%) in RA. Solutions to management this problem should be stimulated.

Keywords: comorbidity; polypharmacy; real-life study; rheumatoid arthritis; rheumatology.