Photo Credit: Nemes Laszlo

The following is a summary of “Healthcare resource utilization of patients with warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia initiating first line therapy of oral corticosteroids with or without rituximab,” published in February 2024 issue of Hematology by Murakhovskaya et al.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study comparing treatment patterns and healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) between patients with warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia (wAIHA) initiating treatment with first-line (1L) oral corticosteroids (OCS) + rituximab (R) versus 1L OCS alone.

They used U.S. pharmacy and medical claims databases (October 2020 and March 2022) to identify patients with wAIHA using a diagnosis code (D59.11). Patients initiating 1L OCS ± R were identified ( with a 1-year pre-index period and a minimum 1-year follow-up period). The final sample comprised 77 1L OCS + R patients and 400 1L OCS patients (60% female, mean age > 64 years).

The results showed that HCRU was higher over 1-year follow-up in the OCS + R group with higher mean physician visits (22.9 and 14.4; P< 0.01) and higher rescue therapy utilization (59.7% and 33.3%; P< 0.01), which was driven by higher use of injectable corticosteroids. The mean duration of completing 1L therapy in OCS + R and OCS groups were also similar, 103.5 and 134.6 days, respectively (P= 0.24). Majorly, second-line (2L) therapy was also initiated at a similar time point: 66.2% OCS + R and 72.0% OCS cohorts (P= 0.31) in a mean duration of 218.3 and 203.2 days (P= 0.76) after the end of 1L treatment, respectively. However, adding R in 1L did not extend the remission period, with most patients in both cohorts initiating 2L therapy within less than one year of completing 1L treatment. 1L OCS + R patients also had a substantial HCRU burden.

Investigators concluded that adding R to 1L treatment did not extend the remission period for  patients with wAIHA, highlighting the need for more effective novel therapies to address the unmet need in wAIHA. 

Source: link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00277-023-05613-8