Impact of Pharmacist Intervention on Disease Knowledge, Rehabilitation and Medication Adherence, Treatment Induced Direct Cost, Health-related Quality of Life and Satisfaction in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid Arthritis Clinical Trial

— DRAMATIC  

Official title:

Impact of Pharmacist Intervention on Disease Knowledge, Rehabilitation and Medication Adherence, Treatment Induced Direct Cost, Health-related Quality of Life and Satisfaction in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis: a Randomized Single-blind Two-arm Controlled Trial

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03827148
• Other study ID #: USM
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: November 17, 2018
• Est. completion date: July 1, 2019

Study information

• Verified date: March 2020
• Source: University of Science Malaysia
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The objective of this study was to evaluate effectiveness of pharmacist intervention in improving disease knowledge, adherence to treatment, health related quality of life and direct cost of treatment. The study also documented patient satisfaction with pharmacist counselling as a quality control measure.

This is a randomized controlled single-blind two-arm trial in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in Karachi, Pakistan. The study will enroll patients with established diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis over three months. The patients after signing written consent would be randomized through a computer-generated list in control group, i.e., usual care and intervention group, i.e., pharmaceutical care with a ratio of 1:1. The study will take place in three patient-visits over the course of three months. The patients would be intervened by pharmacist in intervention group while those in control group will have usual care. Primary outcomes include change in mean score at follow-up, i.e., week 12, for disease knowledge, adherence to medications and rehabilitation/physical therapy, health related quality of life (HRQoL). The secondary outcomes include change in the mean direct cost of treatment and patient satisfaction from pharmacist counselling.

This is a novel study that evaluates the role of pharmacist in improving treatment outcomes of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The results of this trial could set the foundation for future delivery of care for such patients in Pakistan. The results of this trial would be published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Description:

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disease that mainly affects the joints and results in pain, swelling and decreased mobility. The disease over the course of time, leads to joint deformity and disability. The disease ranks third as major cause of disability after osteoarthritis and gout and affects roughly 1% of global population. Decrease mobility in patients results in decreased productivity and further worsens their quality of life. While pharmacological treatment may be essential in managing the acute flares and episodic pain associated with the disease, self-care and home-based management of RA is another important area of care which patients need to incorporate to manage it effectively.

Several studies have reported that self-care in RA effectively reduces acute flares. This could be done through the use of patient education and counselling. Pharmacist provide pharmaceutical care that incorporates these areas of care. Pharmaceutical care is an individualized patient-centric health service delivered by pharmacists that incorporates, but is not limited to, disease education, therapy management, self-care and self-management of disease and therapy as well as motivational guidance.

Evidence from several randomized trials indicate that patient counselling, disease education and telephonic interventions have improved self-care practices of patients. Educating patients about managing RA empowers them in understanding signs and symptoms of disease and devise ways to reduce or limit aggravating factors. A randomized trial conducted by Petkova that involved community pharmacy-based patient education program improved treatment outcomes of arthritis patients. Moreover, Mary and colleagues demonstrated positive effect of mobile phone short message service on medication adherence of patients with RA.

In the last decade there has been only few studies that have evaluated the impact of pharmacist-led pharmaceutical care on treatment outcomes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. In Pakistan, no study has been conducted till date that evaluates the same. Since, the disease prevalence has increased in Pakistani population of late, and mainly affects the middle-aged individuals, it is expected to affect their productivity, employ-ability and income. This would worsen their health-related quality of life and adds to economic burden of this disease on the society. Therefore, a need was felt to evaluate the impact of pharmacist-delivered pharmaceutical care on treatment outcomes in Pakistani patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 714
• Est. completion date: July 1, 2019
• Est. primary completion date: July 1, 2019
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Types of participants Inclusion criteria

The patients who meet the following criteria would be invited to participate in our study:

1. Patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis according to the 2010 ACR/EULAR criteria.

2. Patients diagnosed with RA based on above mentioned criteria for at least 3 months prior to invitation.

3. Patients aged above 18 years

4. Patients visiting out-patient clinics only. Before enrolling in the study, patients attended a study explanation session and provided a written consent to participate.

Exclusion criteria

Patients were excluded from the study if they had any of the following conditions:

1. Patients with musculoskeletal illnesses other than rheumatoid arthritis

2. Patients with a recent history of surgery or planned surgery for rheumatoid arthritis

3. Patients with more than three co-morbidities

4. Patients with any lab abnormalities, being treated for liver or kidney disease

5. Patients who have had a severe infection and have completed antibiotic course in the last week

6. Patients with advanced cardiovascular disease, severe allergies or a rare disease

7. Patients who are currently participating in other clinical trial or have participated in the last three months.

8. Pregnant patients, planning to become pregnant, breast feeding and females with other gynecological issues were not included.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Arthritis
• Arthritis, Rheumatoid
• Rheumatoid Arthritis

Intervention

Other:
• Pharmaceutical Care
Pharmaceutical care is an individualized patient-centric health service delivered by pharmacists that incorporates, but is not limited to, disease education, therapy management, self-care and self-management of disease and therapy as well as motivational guidance.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Pakistan	Clifton Central Hospital	Karachi	Sindh

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Science Malaysia	Clifton Central Hospital

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Pakistan, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Rheumatoid arthritis disease knowledge	Patient knowledge regarding rheumatoid arthritis will be assessed after three months (week 12) from baseline (week 0). The Rheumatoid Knowledge Assessment Scale (RAKAS) will be used to measure rheumatoid arthritis disease knowledge. The RAKAS is a thirteen-item scale that contains questions related to knowledge, symptoms, treatment and risk factors. The items are multiple choice questions (MCQs) and correct answer awards a score while the wrong answers provides no score. A cumulative score is calculated which is interpreted as excellent, good, low and poor knowledge.	3 months
Primary	Treatment adherence	Patient adherence to rehabilitation/physical therapy after three months (week 12) from baseline (week 0). The assessment of adherence to rehabilitation/physical therapy, will be done through Urdu version of General Rehabilitation Adherence Scale (GRAS).	3 months
Primary	Medication adherence	Patient adherence to medication therapy after three months (week 12) from baseline (week 0). For the assessment of adherence to medication and pharmacotherapy, the Urdu version of General Medication Adherence Scale (GMAS) will be used.	3 months
Primary	Health related quality of life (HRQoL)	It will be assessed after three months (week 12) from baseline (week 0).The EQ-5D-5L is a generic tool to measure health and provides a numeric value for health status of patient. The score is then calculated as per the criteria specified by the EuroQol.	3 months
Secondary	Direct cost of treatment	The mean direct cost of rheumatoid arthritis treatment after three months (week 12) from baseline (week 0) in patients enrolled in control (CG) and intervention groups (IG).	3 months
Secondary	Patient satisfaction	Patient satisfaction resulting from pharmacist-led pharmaceutical care. The proportion (%) of patients in the intervention group (IG) who were satisfied with the intervention after three months (week 12) from baseline (week 0).	3 months