Date of Award

2019

Degree Type

Selective Evidence-Based Medicine Review

Degree Name

Master of Science in Health Sciences - Physician Assistant

Department

Physician Assistant Studies

Department Chair

Laura Levy, DHSc, PA-C

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this selective EBM review is to determine whether or not secukinumab improves self-reported quality of life in patients with moderate-to-severe ankylosing spondylitis when taken regularly.

Study design: A systematic review of three randomized placebo-controlled trials (RCTs), published in peer-reviewed journals between 2013 and 2015, all in the English language. Data sources: All three studies were found and accessed on PubMed.

Outcomes measured: Patient quality of life was assessed in all three studies using the Ankylosing Spondylitis Quality of Life (ASQoL) questionnaire and reported as mean change from baseline. ASQoL is scored from 0-18 with a higher score representing a lower quality of life and a greater degree of disability.

Results: With the exception of the smallest dose tested in the initial study conducted by Baeten et al. (2013), all other tested doses of secukinumab were shown to improve self-reported quality of life in patients with moderate-to-severe disease compared to placebo.

Conclusions: The results of these studies indicate that given a sufficient dose, regular administration of secukinumab can lead to improvements in self-reported quality of life. This is especially important given that patients selected for some of these studies already had inadequate responses to max doses of NSAIDs and/or TNF-α inhibitors, which have been the only available therapies.

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Rheumatology Commons

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