Real-World Evidence for Favourable Quality-of-Life Outcomes in Hungarian Patients
with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis Treated for Two Years with Oral Teriflunomide
Relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) is a degenerative, inflammatory disease
of the central nervous system in which symptoms and disability progression vary significantly
among patients. Teri-REAL was a prospective, real-world observational study that examined
quality-of-life (QoL) and treatment outcomes in a Hungarian cohort of RRMS patients
treated with once-daily oral teriflunomide. QoL was assessed at baseline, 12, and
24 months with the Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life-54 (MSQoL-54) questionnaire.
Other measurements included disease progression (Patient Determined Disease Steps
[PDDS]), clinical efficacy (relapses), fatigue (Fatigue Impact Scale [FIS]), depression
(Beck Depression Inventory [BDI]), cognition (Brief International Cognitive Assessment
in MS [BICAMS]), persistence and safety. 212 patients were enrolled (69.1% female,
50.5% treatment naïve), with 146 (69%) completing the study. Statistically significant
improvements in subscales of the MSQoL-54 versus baseline were found at Month 12 and
Month 24. Significant improvements were also observed for individual components of
the BICAMS score at 24 months, while PDDS, FIS and BDI scores remained stable. The
mean annualised relapse rate was 0.08 ± 0.32. There were 93 safety events, most of
which were mild to moderate. Improved QoL and cognitive outcomes in teriflunomide-treated
patients over 2 years offer a unique perspective to this real-world study.