Practice patterns of ANCA-associated vasculitis: exploring differences among subspecialties at a single academic medical centre.

OBJECTIVES: Clinical trial data help guide physician treatment choices for ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV), but when data are lacking, treatment choices are largely driven by physician preference. Our aim was to examine AAV treatment preferences to determine if patient gender and age, and physician subspecialty affect treatment choices.
METHODS: Rheumatologists, nephrologists and pulmonologists from an academic medical centre participated in a web-based survey. Three scenarios (remission induction in severe disease; remission maintenance in severe disease; remission induction in limited disease) were presented for 4 patient profiles (28- and 68-year-old female/male). Physician treatment choices and reasons for these choices were obtained. Differences between groups were analysed using Chi-Square and Fisher's exact tests.
RESULTS: Physicians were significantly more likely to choose rituximab for young females for remission induction in severe AAV, with toxicity being the main reason for this choice. There was a trend toward rheumatologists choosing rituximab over cyclophosphamide compared with other subspecialties for this scenario. Most physicians switched to a less toxic agent for remission maintenance, but there was little agreement as to choice of maintenance therapy among subspecialties. For remission induction in limited disease, most physicians chose rituximab, particularly for young females.
CONCLUSIONS: Currently, there are very few data for remission maintenance therapy following rituximab in severe disease, as well as the use of rituximab in limited disease. Choices for treatment of AAV differ among subspecialties, are affected by patient gender and age, and tend to be largely driven by physician preference when data are limited or lacking.