Real-World Analysis of Treatment Patterns Among Hospitalized Patients with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

Hospitalization is an important clinical factor associated with survival and rehospitalization in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Thus, this study examined treatment patterns before and after hospitalization in the US-specific population.

Adult PAH patients in the United States were identified using the Optum^® Clinformatics^® database from January 1, 2014, to June 30, 2019, and were required to have continuous health plan enrollment for at least 6 months prior to the first (index) hospitalization through at least 90 days post-discharge. Baseline patient characteristics were evaluated from 6 months prior to through the index hospitalization. PAH treatment patterns were examined from 30 days pre-index admission (pre-hospitalization) and 90 days post-index hospital discharge (post-hospitalization), and stratified by therapy type: monotherapy, double- or triple-combination therapy, or no PAH therapy.

A total of 3116 hospitalized patients with PAH met selection criteria. The mean age and Charlson comorbidity index score were 68.1 years and 5.1, respectively. In the pre- and post-hospitalization periods (all-cause), respectively, patients prescribed monotherapy were most common (from 64.8% pre- to 51.9% post-hospitalization), followed by patients with no evidence of PAH therapy (from 14.6 to 28.5%). Among PAH-related hospitalizations, patients with monotherapy were also most common (from 60.8% pre- to 49.1% post-hospitalization), followed by patients with no evidence of PAH therapy (from 10.0 to 22.8%). The majority of patients with all-cause hospitalizations (72.8%) had no therapy modification; 20.0% de-escalated therapy (including 15.0% from monotherapy to no therapy) and 6.1% escalated therapy (including 2.2% from no therapy to monotherapy and 3.2% from monotherapy to double or triple therapy).

Inpatient admissions did not appear to drive changes in PAH therapy management, as monotherapy predominated, and most patients had no therapy modification within 90 days of a hospitalization. These results warrant future research to understand the reasons behind the limited treatment intensification observed and the impact of post-hospitalization optimization on clinical and economic outcomes.