Treatment Preferences, Drivers Vary Widely Among Patients With Relapsing MS

When making treatment decisions, patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS) said they considered factors about the treatment itself and its expected impact on their lives, as well as the context of the decision-making process, according to study results published online ahead of print in The Patient — Patient-Centered Outcomes Research.

“However, significant variability and individual differences were observed between patients living with relapsing MS in the level of importance they place on each of these factors, what they consider to be an ideal treatment, and their reasons why,” researchers wrote.

The study included in-depth, qualitative phone interviews with 72 patients with relapsing MS and a dozen health care professionals from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. Researchers aimed to better understand what factors drive and inform patients’ treatment decisions.

The most commonly cited factors in treatment decisions, each reported by at least three-quarters of patients, were input from health care providers, patient engagement in decision making, mode of administration, and efficacy, according to the study.

Concepts that varied the most in terms of importance to patients were mode of administration, speed of treatment effect, impact on reproduction and parenthood, impact on work and social life, patient engagement in decision making, and cost of treatment.

Researchers believe geographical differences were behind some of the variation in factor importance identified in the study.

“Nearly half of all patients discussing the importance of the impact of treatment on work were from the United Kingdom,” they wrote. “Given that patients in the United Kingdom did not have to pay for their treatment, it suggests that there is variability in the types of impacts on work that patients consider to be important, other than the expected financial repercussions.”

The study also identified high variability in what patients consider an ideal treatment and the most important factors involved in a treatment.

“Characterized by the heterogeneity of the relapsing MS patient experience, findings indicate the nature of treatment decisions in relapsing MS to be highly individualized,” researchers concluded, “and the subjective relative importance placed on different treatment factors by people living with relapsing MS to vary.”

Reference: 

Tatlock S, Sully K, Batish A, et al. Individual differences in the patient experience of relapsing multiple sclerosis (RMS): a multi-country qualitative exploration of drivers of treatment preferences among people living with RMS. Patient. Published online April 5, 2023. doi:10.1007/s40271-023-00617-y