Introduction: Narcolepsy is a chronic and rare hypersomnia of central origin characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and a complex array of symptoms as well as by several medical comorbidities. With growing pharmacological options, polytherapy may increase the possibility of a patient-centered management of narcolepsy symptoms. The aims of our study are to describe a large cohort of Italian patients with narcolepsy who were candidates for pitolisant treatment and to compare patients’ subgroups based on current drug prescription (drug-naïve patients in whom pitolisant was the first-choice treatment, switching to pitolisant from other monotherapy treatments, and adding on in polytherapy). Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey based on Italian data from the inclusion visits of the Post Authorization Safety Study of pitolisant, a 5-year observational, multicenter, international study. Results: One hundred ninety-one patients were enrolled (76.4% with narcolepsy type 1 and 23.6% with narcolepsy type 2). Most patients (63.4%) presented at least one comorbidity, mainly cardiovascular and psychiatric. Pitolisant was prescribed as an add-on treatment in 120/191 patients (62.8%), as switch from other therapies in 42/191 (22.0%), and as a first-line treatment in 29/191 (15.2%). Drug-naive patients presented more severe sleepiness, lower functional status, and a higher incidence of depressive symptoms. Conclusion: Our study presents the picture of a large cohort of Italian patients with narcolepsy who were prescribed with pitolisant, suggesting that polytherapy is highly frequent to tailor a patient-centered approach.
Clinical characteristics of a large cohort of patients with narcolepsy candidate for pitolisant: a cross-sectional study from the Italian PASS Wakix® Cohort / Mutti, C.; Brunetti, V.; Figorilli, M.; Liguori, C.; Pizza, F.; Proserpio, P.; Sacco, T.; Pedrazzi, G.; Lecomte, I.; Blanchard, N.; Agostoni, E. C.; Bonanni, E.; Centonze, D.; Cicolin, A.; Della Marca, G.; Ferini-Strambi, L.; Ferri, R.; Gigli, G. L.; Izzi, F.; Liguori, R.; Lodi, R.; Nobili, L.; Parrino, L.; Placidi, F.; Puligheddu, M.; Romigi, A.; Savarese, M. A.; Terzaghi, M.; Plazzi, G.. - In: NEUROLOGICAL SCIENCES. - ISSN 1590-1874. - 43:9(2022), pp. 5563-5574. [10.1007/s10072-022-06210-9]
Clinical characteristics of a large cohort of patients with narcolepsy candidate for pitolisant: a cross-sectional study from the Italian PASS Wakix® Cohort
Plazzi G.
2022
Abstract
Introduction: Narcolepsy is a chronic and rare hypersomnia of central origin characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and a complex array of symptoms as well as by several medical comorbidities. With growing pharmacological options, polytherapy may increase the possibility of a patient-centered management of narcolepsy symptoms. The aims of our study are to describe a large cohort of Italian patients with narcolepsy who were candidates for pitolisant treatment and to compare patients’ subgroups based on current drug prescription (drug-naïve patients in whom pitolisant was the first-choice treatment, switching to pitolisant from other monotherapy treatments, and adding on in polytherapy). Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey based on Italian data from the inclusion visits of the Post Authorization Safety Study of pitolisant, a 5-year observational, multicenter, international study. Results: One hundred ninety-one patients were enrolled (76.4% with narcolepsy type 1 and 23.6% with narcolepsy type 2). Most patients (63.4%) presented at least one comorbidity, mainly cardiovascular and psychiatric. Pitolisant was prescribed as an add-on treatment in 120/191 patients (62.8%), as switch from other therapies in 42/191 (22.0%), and as a first-line treatment in 29/191 (15.2%). Drug-naive patients presented more severe sleepiness, lower functional status, and a higher incidence of depressive symptoms. Conclusion: Our study presents the picture of a large cohort of Italian patients with narcolepsy who were prescribed with pitolisant, suggesting that polytherapy is highly frequent to tailor a patient-centered approach.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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