TREATMENT PERSISTENCE OF PENTOSAN POLYSULFATE; 4 YEAR FOLLOW-UP REAL WORLD DATA FROM A KOREAN NATIONAL COHORT DATABASE

초록

Introduction: Pentosan polysulfate sodium (PPS) is a keytreatment for interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS), achronic disease that often requires long‐term management. Whilethe persistence of other urologic medications has been well‐docu-mented, PPS persistence has not been widely studied in real‐ worldsettings. Given the chronic nature of IC/BPS, it is crucial tounderstand how long‐term patients can sustain PPS treatment. Thisstudy aimed to evaluate the persistence rates of PPS using data fromthe Korean National Health Insurance Database over a maximumfollow‐up period of 4 years. Methods: This retrospective analysis included patients aged 18or older who had their first PPS prescription for IC/BPS betweenJanuary 1, 2018, and December 31, 2018. The index date wasdefined as the date of the first PPS prescription. A 6‐month pre‐index period ensured eligibility. Treatment persistence was definedas the time from the index date to discontinuation. Persistence rateswere evaluated at 1, 2, 3, 6, and 12 months, as well as at 2, 3, and4 years. The median follow‐up and persistence periods were pre-sented with interquartile ranges (IQR). Results: A total of 16,474 patients were included, with amedian follow‐up of 1257 days. Baseline characteristics are shownin Table 1. The median persistence for PPS was 31 days (IQR14–101). Persistence rates were 55.07% at 1 month, 37.53% at2 months, 29.07% at 3 months, 21.56% at 6 months, 17.59% at 1year, 8.12% at 2 years, 2.71% at 3 years, and 1.53% at 4 years (fig. 1). Conclusions: This is the first study to evaluate PPS persistence in real‐world clinical practice. The 1‐year persistence rate of 17.59% is significantly lower than that of other commonly prescribed urinary drugs, with less than 1% of patients continuing treatment beyond 4 years. These results indicate that most patients discontinue PPS early, highlighting the need for regular monitoring and alternative treatment strategies for IC/BPS.