Real-world treatment patterns of rheumatoid arthritis in Brazil: analysis of DATASUS national administrative claims data for pharmacoepidemiology studies (2010-2020)

Our study assessed DATASUS as a potential source for pharmacoepidemiologic studies in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in the Brazilian population focusing on treatment patterns and determinants of initiating or switching to a novel therapy. This was a descriptive database study of RA patients with at least one claim of RA and >= 2 claims of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD); conventional synthetic (cs), biologic (b) or targeted synthetic (ts) DMARD with more than 6 months of follow-up from 01-Jan-2010 to 31-Dec-2020. Analyses were stratified for SUS- exclusive and SUS+ private user cohorts. We identified 250,251 patients with RA in DATASUS: mean age of 58.4 years, majority female (83%) and white (58%). 62% were SUS-exclusive and 38% SUS+ private. Most common bDMARDs were adalimumab and etanercept. Age (adjusted odds ratio 1.78 [50+]; 95% CI 1.57-2.01), SUS exclusive status (0.53; 0.47-0.59), distance to clinic [160+ km] (0.57; 0.45-0.72), and pre-index csDMARD claims (1.23; 1.08-1.41) were independent predictors of initiating a novel oral tsDMARD. Switching from bDMARD to tsDMARD, associations were similar, except for the direction of associations for SUS exclusive status (adjusted hazard ratio 1.10; 1.03-1.18), distance to clinic (1.18; 1.03- 1.35), and number of previous bDMARD (0.15; 0.14- 0.16). DATASUS is a source suitable for treatment-related analyses in RA reflecting the public health system in Brazil.

Automated summary

Our study evaluated DATASUS as a potential data source for pharmacoepidemiologic studies in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in the Brazilian population, focusing on treatment patterns and determinants of initiating or switching to a novel therapy. Through a descriptive database study of RA patients, we found that DATASUS is suitable for analyzing RA treatments and reflects the public health system in Brazil.