Treatment Patterns of Patients With Pulmonary Hypertension: A Descriptive Study in Colombia

Area of Science:

• Pharmacology
• Clinical Medicine
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a progressive condition impacting pulmonary artery pressure.
• Understanding real-world treatment patterns is crucial for managing PH.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe treatment patterns in ambulatory patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH).
• To analyze drug use, persistence, and combination therapy in a real-world setting.

Main Methods:

• A longitudinal cohort follow-up study using a population-based drug-dispensing database (2022-2023).
• Data included sociodemographics, diagnosis, prescribing specialty, and treatment details.
• Analysis focused on medication patterns and persistence of use.

Main Results:

• 1045 PH patients identified (mean age 62.9 years, 72.3% female).
• 90.6% received monotherapy, 9.4% combination therapy initially.
• Most common drugs: calcium channel blockers (58.1%), PDE5 inhibitors (41.1%), ERAs (32.5%).
• Monotherapy with amlodipine (31.0%) and sildenafil (19.2%) was frequent.
• Mean drug persistence was 161 days over one year.

Conclusions:

• Colombian PH patients were predominantly treated with monotherapy (CCBs, PDE5 inhibitors), diverging from guideline recommendations for combined therapy.
• Short drug persistence (<6 months) may indicate issues with follow-up, adherence, effectiveness, tolerability, or access.