Background/Purpose: Few real-world studies have characterized patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) who initiate secukinumab. This study described characteristics of patients who initiated secukinumab and other biologics for the treatment of PsA in the US Corrona PsA/SpA Registry.

Methods: This study included adult patients with PsA enrolled in the Corrona PsA/SpA Registry who initiated secukinumab or other biologics (abatacept, adalimumab, etanercept, certolizumab, infliximab, golimumab, and ustekinumab) at a Corrona visit between April 2017 and March 2018. Patient demographics, clinical characteristics, treatment profile, disease activity, quality of life, and work productivity were assessed at the time of biologic initiation (baseline) and compared between patients who initiated secukinumab and other biologics using t tests or χ² tests.

Results: Of the 196 patients with PsA who initiated a biologic, 64 (32.7%) initiated secukinumab and 132 (67.3%) initiated other biologics. Secukinumab initiators were less likely to work full time (45.3% vs 62.6%) and more likely to be disabled from working (17.2% vs 4.6%), had longer mean symptom (12.3 vs 7.9 years) and disease duration (8.4 vs 5.2 years), and were more likely to have depression (23.4% vs 12.1%) vs those who initiated other biologics (Table 1; all P < 0.05); secukinumab initiators were also twice as likely to have prior biologic (93.8% vs 46.2%) and csDMARD use (62.5% vs 29.5%) (Table 1; both P < 0.05). Secukinumab initiators had significantly higher mean SPARCC Enthesitis Index scores (4.0 vs 2.4), were less likely to have dactylitis (14.1% vs 26.5%), and had a worse health state (mean EQ VAS, 59.4 vs 66.3) compared with other biologic initiators (Table 2; all P < 0.05). Although no significant differences were noted for other measures of disease activity, quality of life, and work productivity, secukinumab initiators on average had higher tender joint counts (8.3 vs 6.6) and worse pain (54.5 vs 49.4), fatigue (51.2 vs 48.1), and patient global skin assessment scores (48.0 vs 41.3) compared with other biologic initiators.

Conclusion: In this real-world study of US patients with PsA, secukinumab initiators had more established disease, were less likely to be working full-time, and had increased prior biologic use compared with other biologic initiators. Although there were few significant differences across several disease activity, quality of life, and work productivity measures (eg, enthesitis counts and overall heath state), secukinumab initiators generally had higher tender joint counts and worse quality of life measures than other biologic initiators.