TY - JOUR T1 - Analysis of Effectiveness, Safety and Optimization of Tocilizumab in a Cohort of Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis in Clinical Practice JO - Reumatología Clínica (English Edition) T2 - AU - Mena-Vázquez,Natalia AU - Manrique-Arija,Sara AU - Rojas-Giménez,Marta AU - Ureña-Garnica,Inmaculada AU - Jiménez-Núñez,Francisco G. AU - Fernández-Nebro,Antonio SN - 21735743 M3 - 10.1016/j.reumae.2017.05.007 DO - 10.1016/j.reumae.2017.05.007 UR - https://reumatologiaclinica.org/en-analysis-effectiveness-safety-optimization-tocilizumab-articulo-S2173574318301151 AB - ObjectiveTo evaluate the effectiveness and safety of tocilizumab (TCZ) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in clinical practice, establishing the optimised regimen and switching from intravenous (IV) to subcutaneous (SC) therapy. Material and methodsRetrospective observational study. We included 53 RA patients treated with TCZ. The main outcome was TCZ effectiveness at week 24. Secondary outcome variables included effectiveness at week 52, therapeutic maintenance, physical function and safety. The effectiveness of optimization and the switch from IV to SC was evaluated at 3 and 6 months. The efficacy was measured with the Disease Activity Score. Paired t-tests or Wilcoxon were used to evaluate effectiveness and survival time using Kaplan–Meier. ResultsThe proportion of patients who achieved remission or low disease activity at weeks 24 and 52 was 75.5% and 87.3%, respectively. The mean retention time (95% confidence interval [95% CI] was 81.7 months [76.6–86.7]). Twenty-one of 53 patients (39.6%) optimised the TCZ dose and 35 patients switched from IV TCZ to SC, with no changes in effectiveness. The adverse event rate was 13.6 events/100 patient-years. ConclusionsTocilizumab appears to be effective and safe in RA in clinical practice. The optimised regimen appears to be effective in most patients in remission, even when they change from IV to SC. ER -