Burden of treatment and quality of life in relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis patients under early high efficacy therapy in Argentina: Data from the Argentinean registry.

UNLABELLED: The objective of this study was to describe and compare the burden of treatment (BOT) and the quality of life (QoL) in early high efficacy therapy (HET) vs. escalation therapy in relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients included in RelevarEM, the Argentinean registry of MS (RelevarEM, NCT 03,375,177).

METHODS: cross sectional study conducted between September and December 2022. Participating patients were adults, RRMS patients who initiated (during the last three years) their treatment with a HET (natalizumab, ocrelizumab, alemtuzumab, cladribine) or with escalation treatment (beta interferon, glatiramer acetate, teriflunomide, dimethyl fumarate or fingolimod). Clinical and demographic aspect were collected. QoL and BOT was measured with the validated to Spanish MusiQol and BOT questionnaire. Propensity score (PS)-based nearest-neighbor matching was applied to homogenize groups. Comparisons were be done using a linear regression analysis model stratified by matched pairs, with BOT and QoL assessments as main outcomes.

RESULTS: 269 patients were included in the analysis, mean age 33.7 ± 5.7 years, 193 (71.7 %) were female. A total of 136 patients were on early HET while 133 were on escalation therapy. In the entire group the mean total BOT score (±SD) was 48.5 ± 15.3 while in the group of patients receiving early HET we observed that the mean BOT score (±SD) was 43.5 ± 12.2 vs. 54.3 ± 13.3 in escalation treatment (p < 0.0001). Regarding the score QoL (±SD), in the entire sample we observed a global score of 77.4 ± 11.2. When we stratified groups, in HET (±SD) it was 81.3 ± 14 vs. 74.1 ± 18.3 in escalation therapy (p = 0.0003).

CONCLUSION: in this multicenter study that included 269 patients from Argentina we observed in early HET a significantly lower BOT and higher QoL than patients receiving escalation therapy.