Treatment Patterns, Adherence, Persistence, and Health Care Resource Utilization in Acromegaly: A Real-World Analysis

Area of Science:

• Endocrinology
• Pharmacology
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Acromegaly treatment is multimodal, including somatostatin receptor ligands (SRLs), dopamine agonists (DAs), and growth hormone receptor antagonists (GHRAs).
• Limited recent real-world evidence exists on acromegaly treatment patterns.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate medication usage, treatment changes, adherence, persistence, comorbidities, and healthcare resource utilization in acromegaly patients.
• To provide insights for individualized therapy recommendations based on real-world data.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of deidentified data from the MarketScan US claims database.
• Inclusion of 882 patients receiving monotherapy or combination therapy for ≥90 days without treatment gaps.

Main Results:

• Most patients (94.6%) initiated monotherapy, with cabergoline (DA), octreotide LAR (SRL), and lanreotide depot (SRL) being most common.
• First-generation SRLs demonstrated higher adherence (0.8) compared to DAs (0.7).
• Treatment persistence was higher for GHRAs (24.8 months) and first-generation SRLs (20.0 months) versus DAs (14.4 months).

Conclusions:

• Real-world data reveals varying treatment persistence and adherence among different acromegaly medications.
• Increased comorbidities are associated with higher healthcare visits, indicating a greater disease burden.
• Findings support the need for individualized treatment strategies in acromegaly management.