NSAIDs and methotrexate are the medications most often used by patients to treat rheumatoid arthritis, according to a survey conducted by rheumatoidarthritis.net.
Among those who answered the question on drug therapy, 86% had taken NSAIDs at some time and almost 54% were currently taking them, while 79% reported lifetime use of methotrexate and almost 43% were currently taking it. Oral steroids were third in lifetime use at 72%, but biologics were actually second in current use at 45%, the survey showed.
When looking at use of specific biologics, etanercept (Enbrel) led in lifetime use at 30% while adalimumab (Humira) was second at 25%. The top two spots were reversed for current use, with etanercept at 26% and adalimumab at 25%, rheumatoidarthritis.net reported. (The number of respondents varied for each question since not all patients were currently treating their RA with the options offered.) Infliximab (Remicade) was third in lifetime use (15%) and abatacept (Orencia) was third in current use (13%).
The survey also examined cost issues. Among respondents, more than 44% reported spending $1,000-$5,000 a year on RA treatment, 41% spent less than $1,000, 12% spent $5,000-$10,000, and 3% spent more than $10,000 a year. Almost 44% of RA patients said that they had avoided treatment at some time because of cost, and 32% reported using a coupon or free trial offer to help pay for treatment, according to the survey.
A total of 706 RA patients over age 18 completed the online "RA in America 2013" survey, which was conducted from June to August of 2013. The parent company of rheumatoidarthritis.net, Health Union LLC, reports that it "does not manufacture, sell nor market any product to diagnose, prevent or treat RA or any other disease."
