Abstract
Objective: To present the latest data from the Paraguayan–Uruguayan registry of adverse events in patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases receiving biologic, biosimilar, and targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (b/bs/tsDMARDs): BIOBADAGUAY.
Methods: Data were collected from patients enrolled in BIOBADAGUAY up to March 2025. The methodology is available at https://biobadaguay.ser.es/.
Results: A total of 1,289 patients were analyzed, including 1,078 receiving b/bs/tsDMARDs and 211 receiving conventional synthetic DMARDs (csDMARDs) as the control group. Women accounted for 78.7% of the cohort. The mean age at initiation of the first treatment was 44.6 ± 16.7 years. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was the most frequent diagnosis (68.7%). A total of 1,633 treatment courses were administered (1,421 b/tsDMARDs and 212 csDMARDs). Overall, 1,893 adverse events (AEs) were recorded, of which 1,615 (88.0%) were mild, 206 (11.2%) were serious, and 15 (0.82%) were fatal. Infections were the most common AEs (55.2%), with the majority being mild (89.7%). In the multivariate analysis according to diagnosis, using RA as the reference category, patients with spondylarthritis (SpA) showed a lower risk of overall AEs. Additionally, second and subsequent treatment lines, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, concomitant corticosteroid therapy, and leflunomide use were associated with an increased risk of AEs.
Conclusions: The incidence of AEs was predominantly mild, with infections being the most frequently reported events. These findings highlight the need for rigorous and continuous monitoring of patients receiving these therapies.
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