EXPLORE B: A prospective, long-term natural history study of patients with acute hepatic porphyria with chronic symptoms

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Publication Details

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Journal of Inherited Metabolic Disease

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September 2022

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Author(s)

David Cassiman1, Raili Kauppinen2, Susana Monroy3, Ming-Jen Lee4, Herbert L Bonkovsky5, Manish Thapar6, Encarna Guillén-Navarro7, Anna-Elisabeth Minder8, Cecilia Hale9, Marianne T Sweetser10, Aneta Ivanova11

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Affiliations

Affiliations

1Department of Gastroenterology-Hepatology and Center for Metabolic Diseases, University Hospital Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; 2Department of Medicine, University Hospital of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; 3Centro de Investigacion Traslacional, Instituto Nacional de Pediatría de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico; 4Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; 5Section on Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Wake Forest University/North Carolina Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA; 6Department of Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; 7Medical Genetics Section, Virgen de la Arrixaca University Hospital, IMIB-Arrixaca, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain; 8Division of Endocrinology, Department of Internal Medicine, Stadtspital Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland; 9Department of Biometrics and Department of Clinical Development, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; 10Department of Clinical Development, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; 11Porphyria Unit, Department of Gastroenterology, St. Ivan Rilski University Hospital, Sofia, Bulgaria

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Abstract

One-year data from EXPLORE Part A showed high disease burden and impaired quality of life (QOL) in patients with acute hepatic porphyria (AHP) with recurrent attacks. We report baseline data of patients who enrolled in EXPLORE Part B for up to an additional 3 years of follow-up. EXPLORE B is a long-term, prospective study evaluating disease activity, pain intensity, and QOL in patients with AHP with ≥1 attack in the 12 months before enrollment or receiving hemin or gonadotropin-releasing hormone prophylaxis. Data were evaluated in patients with more (≥3 attacks or on prophylaxis treatment) or fewer (<3 attacks and no prophylaxis treatment) attacks. Patients in the total population (N = 136), and more (n = 110) and fewer (n = 26) attack subgroups, reported a median (range) of 3 (0–52), 4 (0–52), and 1 (0–2) acute attacks, respectively, in the 12 months prior to the baseline visit. Pain, mood/sleep, digestive/bladder, and nervous system symptoms were each experienced by ≥80% of patients; most received hemin during attacks. Almost three-quarters of patients reported chronic symptoms between attacks, including 85% of patients with fewer attacks. Pain intensity was comparable among both attack subgroups; most patients required pain medication. All groups had diminished QOL on the EuroQol visual analog scale and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality-of-life Questionnaire Core 30 versus population norms. Patients with AHP with recurrent attacks, even those having fewer attacks, experience a high disease burden, as evidenced by chronic symptoms between attacks and impaired QOL.

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abstract

PMID

36069414

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DOI

10.1002/jimd.12551

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