Baricitinib retention and factors associated thereof in clinical practice: a prospective, multicenter 12-month study in rheumatoid arthritis patients.
7 affiliations
- 1Rheumatology, Clinical Immunology, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece.
- 2Joint Rheumatology Program, 4th Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Attikon General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
- 3Joint Rheumatology Program, Clinical Immunology-Rheumatology Unit, 2nd Department of Medicine and Laboratory, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, General Hospital of Athens 'Hippokration', Athens, Greece.
- 4Joint Academic Rheumatology Program, 1st Department of Propedeutic and Internal Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Greece, Athens, Greece.
- 5Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH), Heraklion, Greece.
- 6Rheumatology, Clinical Immunology, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece. [email protected].
- 7Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH), Heraklion, Greece. [email protected].
Abstract
Herein we report for baricitinib drug retention, predictors thereof and clinical responses in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with a special focus in comorbidities. Prospective, multicenter, observational study of RA patients starting baricitinib because of active disease. Patients were followed every 3 months for 12 months. The primary endpoint was baricitinib retention at 12 months; predictors for survival and clinical responses at 6 months were secondary endpoints. Retention rate was estimated by Kaplan-Meier (K-M) while predictors of discontinuation by Cox regression. We recruited 135 patients, 93.3% females, mean (standard deviation-SD) age 56.1 (10.1) years, median (interquartile range) disease duration 57 (90) months. 18.5% started baricitinib as first line targeted therapy. 35.9% (28/88) and 44.1% (26/59) achieved DAS28 remission/low disease activity (LDA) at 6 and 12 months respectively. Baricitinib retention at 12 months was 68.9%. K-M analysis showed that hypertension (p=0.049), latent tuberculosis infection (LTBi) (p=0.007) and depression (p=0.005) were associated to lower retention, while multivariate analysis showed that depression [Hazard ratio (HR) 2.715, p=0.007] and LTBi (HR 2.519, p=0.020) predicted baricitinib discontinuation. Analysis for patients on therapy for at least 6 months showed that together with hypertension (HR 2.477, p=0.022) and LTBi (HR 3.761, p=0.023), higher DAS28 at 6 months (HR 1.434, p=0.024) predicted baricitinib discontinuation at 12 months. In established RA, 68.9% of the patients remained on baricitinib at 12 months and had an improvement of disease activity. Mostly comorbidities contributed to baricitinib persistence, supporting their importance as factors to be addressed to optimize RA clinical care.
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BibTeX
@article{flouri2026baricitinib,
title = {{Baricitinib retention and factors associated thereof in clinical practice: a prospective, multicenter 12-month study in rheumatoid arthritis patients.}},
author = {Irini Flouri and Antonios Bertsias and Konstantina Zoupidou and Christos Koutsianas and George Fragoulis and Dimitrios Nezis-Katsifis and Elena Sambatakaki and Nestor Avgoustidis and Argyro Repa and George Bertsias and Maria Tektonidou and Petros Sfikakis and Dimitrios Vassilopoulos and Dimitrios Boumpas and Prodromos Sidiropoulos},
journal = {Rheumatology international},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1007/s00296-026-06313-y},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42832028},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Baricitinib retention and factors associated thereof in clinical practice: a prospective, multicenter 12-month study in rheumatoid arthritis patients.
AU - Irini Flouri
AU - Antonios Bertsias
AU - Konstantina Zoupidou
AU - Christos Koutsianas
AU - George Fragoulis
AU - Dimitrios Nezis-Katsifis
AU - Elena Sambatakaki
AU - Nestor Avgoustidis
AU - Argyro Repa
AU - George Bertsias
AU - Maria Tektonidou
AU - Petros Sfikakis
AU - Dimitrios Vassilopoulos
AU - Dimitrios Boumpas
AU - Prodromos Sidiropoulos
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/05
JO - Rheumatology international
DO - 10.1007/s00296-026-06313-y
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42832028
AB - Herein we report for baricitinib drug retention, predictors thereof and clinical responses in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with a special focus in comorbidities. Prospective, multicenter, observational study of RA patients starting baricitinib because of active disease. Patients were followed every 3 months for 12 months. The primary endpoint was baricitinib retention at 12 months; predictors for survival and clinical responses at 6 months were secondary endpoints. Retention rate was estimated by Kaplan-Meier (K-M) while predictors of discontinuation by Cox regression. We recruited 135 patients, 93.3% females, mean (standard deviation-SD) age 56.1 (10.1) years, median (interquartile range) disease duration 57 (90) months. 18.5% started baricitinib as first line targeted therapy. 35.9% (28/88) and 44.1% (26/59) achieved DAS28 remission/low disease activity (LDA) at 6 and 12 months respectively. Baricitinib retention at 12 months was 68.9%. K-M analysis showed that hypertension (p=0.049), latent tuberculosis infection (LTBi) (p=0.007) and depression (p=0.005) were associated to lower retention, while multivariate analysis showed that depression [Hazard ratio (HR) 2.715, p=0.007] and LTBi (HR 2.519, p=0.020) predicted baricitinib discontinuation. Analysis for patients on therapy for at least 6 months showed that together with hypertension (HR 2.477, p=0.022) and LTBi (HR 3.761, p=0.023), higher DAS28 at 6 months (HR 1.434, p=0.024) predicted baricitinib discontinuation at 12 months. In established RA, 68.9% of the patients remained on baricitinib at 12 months and had an improvement of disease activity. Mostly comorbidities contributed to baricitinib persistence, supporting their importance as factors to be addressed to optimize RA clinical care.
SN - 0172-8172
SN - 1437-160X
ER -