P2185 - Assessing the Concordance Between Patients With Eosinophilic Esophagitis and Their Treating Physicians: Evidence From a Real-World Study

Joy Chang, MD, MS¹, Flavia Ejzykowicz, PhD², Carla Zema, PhD², Daniel Mascia, BSc³, Tia Pennant, BSc³, Chris Higgins, PharmD², Luc Biedermann, MD^4
1University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI; ²Bristol Myers Squibb, Princeton, NJ; ³Adelphi Real World, Bollington, England, United Kingdom; ⁴Universitäts Spital Zürich, Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

Introduction: Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic disease characterized by esophageal dysfunction and eosinophilic inflammation. A shared understanding of patients’ perceptions and values, along with a comprehensive awareness of the probable prognosis and potential treatment outcomes, is crucial for physicians and patients. Prior research suggests patients prioritize symptom and quality of life (QoL) improvement as treatment outcomes; aligning patient and physician treatment goals can enhance outcomes. We explored patient-physician concordance in EoE treatment.

Methods: Data were drawn from the Adelphi EoE Disease Specific Programme™ (DSP), a real-world, cross-sectional survey with retrospective data collection of physicians and their patients with EoE in EU (France, Germany, Italy, Spain), UK, and US from Jul–Dec 2023. Physicians abstracted clinical data reporting demographics, symptoms, and reasons for choice of treatment for consecutively consulting patients with EoE, and patients reporting their treatment perspectives. Descriptive analyses were performed.

Results: Overall, 190 physicians reported data for 1141 patients, of whom 285 completed a survey. Most patients were male (65%) and White (95%), with a mean (SD) age of 35.8 (12.3) y and mean (SD) duration of current treatment of 1.80 (2.03) y. Prior to diagnosis, the most common symptoms reported were dysphagia (physician: 84% vs patients: 80%), heartburn (60% vs 80%), and food impaction (56% vs 54%); discrepancies were seen in current symptoms: dysphagia (33% vs 43%) and heartburn (36% vs 43%) (Table 1). Physicians reported symptomatic relief (84%), improvements in QoL (64%), and speed of onset (48%) as the most common reasons for selecting current treatment. Patients reported reduction in symptoms (75%), ease of administration (42%), and lack of side effects (40%) as the most common perspectives on treatment (Figure 1). Patients (86% vs 79% of physicians) reported needing additional support such as help with personal care, daily activities, taking medications, or emotional support.



Discussion: Although patient and physician perceptions on reported disease symptoms prior to diagnosis were generally aligned, they were less so on current symptoms. Differences were also seen in physicians’ priorities for choice of treatment and patients’ perspectives on treatment. Further, physicians may underestimate symptom burden and overestimate treatment impact on QoL, leading to unmet needs.



Disclosures:


Joy Chang, MD, MS¹, Flavia Ejzykowicz, PhD², Carla Zema, PhD², Daniel Mascia, BSc³, Tia Pennant, BSc³, Chris Higgins, PharmD², Luc Biedermann, MD⁴. P2185 - Assessing the Concordance Between Patients With Eosinophilic Esophagitis and Their Treating Physicians: Evidence From a Real-World Study, ACG 2024 Annual Scientific Meeting Abstracts. Philadelphia, PA: American College of Gastroenterology.