TOPLINE:
A study reveals nearly a quarter of patients treated with teprotumumab for thyroid eye disease require re-treatment within a year, and older patients are more likely to require additional treatment.
METHODOLOGY:
- The retrospective analysis included 119 patients (mean age, 54 years; 76.5% women) from three centers in the United States who were treated with teprotumumab for thyroid eye disease between March 2020 and July 2023.
- Patients who completed a full course of therapy and had a follow-up of 1 year after treatment were assessed.
- The main outcomes were rates of re-treatment and risk factors for requiring additional treatment.
- The criteria for re-treatment were a clinical activity score ≥ 3, worsening of proptosis by ≥ 2 mm, or worsening diplopia in the presence of inflammatory signs.
TAKEAWAY:
- The overall rate of re-treatment was 24%.
- At baseline, patients who required re-treatment were 7 years older than those who did not require re-treatment (60 years vs 53 years; P < .05).
- At the end of the first course of teprotumumab, the clinical activity score (P = .3), proptosis (P = .4), and the diplopia score (P = .4) showed no significant differences between patients who received re-treatment and those who did not.
- Older age was association with higher risk for re-treatment (P < .05).
IN PRACTICE:
"Having identified a re-treatment rate and a risk factor, it may be possible to better inform patients prior to initiating treatment," the authors wrote.
SOURCE:
The study was led by Shoaib Ugradar, MD, Beverly Hills, California, and appeared online on July 19, 2024, in Ophthalmology.
LIMITATIONS:
The retrospective nature of the study may limit the generalizability of its findings. The sample size may not capture the full diversity of the population with thyroid eye disease. The lack of predetermined guidelines for re-treatment may have introduced variability in the criteria used across different centers.
DISCLOSURES:
This study did not disclose any funding source. Some authors declared serving as consultants, receiving research funding, or having other ties with several sources.
This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.