Immune-mediated inflammatory diseases in Germany : A cross-sectional analysis of comorbidities and pharmacotherapy

Abstract

Immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMID) can lead to asubstantial disease burden for those affected, in particular by the concomitant occurrence of other IMIDs or in the presence of comorbidities. The care of patients with IMIDs is complex and involves various medical disciplines. To describe the burden of disease and the current routine drug treatment of patients with IMID. The retrospective cross-sectional analysis was based on statutory health insurance claims data from the InGef database. Prevalent patients with psoriasis (Pso), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), spondylarthritis (SpA), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Crohn's disease (MC), ulcerative colitis (CU), or connective tissue disease were identified among 3,988,695 insured patients in 2018. The concomitant occurrence of different IMIDs and the extent to which patients with IMID are affected by other comorbidities compared to areference population were investigated. The current routine drug treatment was described based on the use of predefined forms of treatment. In the database 188,440patients with IMID (4.7%) were identified. Compared to the reference population the prevalence of comorbidities, such as depressive episodes and cardiovascular risk factors was higher in patients with IMID. For MC, CU, RA, and PsA disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD) and classical systemic forms of treatment were used most commonly. In Pso, SpA, and connective tissue disease nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) were the most frequently used treatment often in combination with other drugs. Aconsiderable number of patients with IMIDs (16.9-27.5%) suffer from different diseases of the IMID group. They are frequently affected by accompanying illnesses and require interdisciplinary medical treatment.