• Luciana Scalone, Piercarlo Sarzi-Puttini, Luigi Sinigaglia, Carlomaurizio Montecucco, Roberto Giacomelli, Giovanni Lapadula, Ignazio Olivieri, Angela Maria Giardino, Paolo Angelo Cortesi, Lorenzo Giovanni Mantovani, and Monica Mecchia.
• Centre of Research on Public Health, University of Milano-Bicocca, and CHARTA Foundation, Milan, Italy, luciana.scalone@unimib.it.
• Patient Prefer Adher. 2018 Jan 1; 12: 2153-2168.

ObjectiveTo estimate preferences in relevant treatment characteristics evaluated by different groups involved in the management of patients with rheumatic diseases.Subjects And MethodsWe surveyed patients with rheumatic diseases, and rheumatologists, nurses, and pharmacists with experience in treatment with/provision of biologic drugs for these patients. Through a discrete choice experiment, participants evaluated 16 possible scenarios in which pairs of similarly efficacious treatments were described with six characteristics: 1) frequency of administration; 2) mode and place of administration; 3) manner, helpfulness, efficiency, and courtesy of health personnel; 4) frequency of reactions at the site of drug administration; 5) severity of generalized undesired/allergic reactions; and 6) additional cost. The direction and strength of preferences toward each characteristic level and the relative importance of each characteristic were estimated through a random-effects conditional logistic regression model.ResultsIn total, 513 patients, 110 rheumatologists, 51 nurses, and 46 pharmacists from 30 centers in Italy participated. Characteristics 3, 4, and 6 were the most important for every subgroup; 1 was least important for patients and rheumatologists, 2 was least important for pharmacists, and 2 and 5 were least important for nurses. For characteristic 2, pharmacists preferred subcutaneous self-injection with a syringe; nurses preferred assisted infusion at an infusion center close to the patient's home; patients and rheumatologists preferred subcutaneous self-injection with a pen.ConclusionThe different preferences for some characteristics shown by the different groups can play an important role, together with purely clinical aspects, in the choice and consequent benefit of treatments, contributing also to a more satisfactory use of resources.

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