The recommendation from the 2014 National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute guidelines 1 to treat all adults with sickle cell anemia (SCA) and 3 or more moderate to severe pain crises within 1 year with hydroxyurea was rated as strong based on high-quality evidence reviewed in 2008. 2,3 Despite benefits in reducing pain crises, hospitalizations, blood transfusions, and possibly mortality, it is thought that hydroxyurea is underused, although the extent of its use is unknown. 2 We sought to document the use of hydroxyurea when indicated for SCA in a large insurance claims database. a Data are expressed as No. (%) [95% CI] unless otherwise indicated.

Among those not treated for low risk prostate cancer, Caucasian men were placed on active surveillance more frequently than African-American men, who often defaulted to de facto watchful waiting after an initial period of active surveillance. This discrepancy raises questions about the factors favoring watchful waiting over active surveillance. Moreover, given the lack of consensus regarding the most efficient active surveillance strategy, we anticipate that racial disparities in the use of active surveillance will persist, especially in African-American patients.

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This real-world study of treatment patterns for PsA, which used a large U.S. claims database, demonstrated that the majority of patients with PsA discontinued their index biologic (TNFi or anti-IL-12/23 inhibitor) before 12 months. Nearly half of patients initiated an adjunctive medication, many of which were pain and conventional anti-inflammatory medications. DISCLOSURES This study was sponsored by Novartis Pharmaceuticals. Optum was commissioned by Novartis to conduct this study, but employment was not contingent on results of the study. Walsh is a paid consultant for Novartis. Adejoro was an employee of Optum at the time of the study and writing of the manuscript. Chastek is an employee of Optum. Palmer and Hur are employees of Novartis. Study concept and design were contributed by Walsh, Chastek, Adejoro, Palmer, and Hur. Adejoro, Chastek, Walsh, Palmer, and Hur collected the data. Data interpretation was performed by Walsh, Palmer, Adejoro, Chastek, and Hur. The manuscript was written and revised by Walsh and Hur, along with the other authors. Results of this study were presented as an abstract and poster at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Nexus 2017; October 16-19, 2017; Dallas, Texas; and the EULAR 2017 Annual European Congress of Rheumatology; June 14-17, 2017; Madrid, Spain.

Aim: Examine treatment patterns among patients with active ankylosing spondylitis (AS) treated with a TNF inhibitor (TNFi). Patients & methods: Patients with AS who initiated a TNFi between 1 January 2013, and 31 January 2015, were identified in the Optum Research Database. Outcomes included adherence, persistence, discontinuation and therapy modifications of the index TNFi during 12-month follow-up. Results: Of the 426 patients included, 40.6% persisted on the index TNFi for ≥12 months, 31.0% discontinued, 21.4% switched to a different TNFi, and 7.0% discontinued and then restarted. Of the 333 patients who persisted on their TNFi for >90 days, 44.7% received ≥1 add-on medication. Conclusion: A high proportion of patients with AS switched, discontinued or modified their TNFi therapy.

Intensity modulated radiotherapy has replaced 3-dimensional conformal radiotherapy as the primary form of external radiation for prostate cancer. The choice of intensity modulated radiotherapy over 3-dimensional conformal radiotherapy is not related to common clinical factors such as age, comorbidities or tumor aggressiveness. Although geographic variations exist, by 2007 intensity modulated radiotherapy dominated in all regions studied.

This study was sponsored by Novartis Pharmaceuticals. Optum was commissioned by Novartis to conduct this study, but employment was not contingent on results of the study. Walsh is a paid consultant for Novartis. Adejoro was an employee of Optum at the time of the study and writing of the manuscript. Chastek is an employee of Optum. Palmer and Hur are employees of Novartis. Results of this study were presented as an abstract and poster at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Nexus 2017; October 16-19, 2017; Dallas, TX; and the EULAR 2017 Annual European Congress of Rheumatology; June 14-17, 2017; Madrid, Spain.

Our classification system is a valid tool with moderate inter-rater agreement that can be used to better understand device-related adverse events. The majority of robotic related events were mild but associated with the device.