Introduction: Biologics have become increasingly common in the treatment of inflammatory rheumatic diseases. As these drugs are more widely prescribed, healthcare providers need to be more educated about everything from the effectiveness and safety of biologics to how to properly administer the medication. We aimed to determine patient factors associated with the safety skills of patients receiving bDMARDs . 
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey performed in 2016 . A questionnaire was elaborated to measure knowledge and skills regarding safety issues, for patients treated by biologics
Results: We have asked 121 patients with mean age 43±11 years old; 52 (43%) women; indications for biologics were mainly rheumatoid arthritis in 51 cases, anklyosing spondylitis in 37cases , 21 for enteropathic arthritis and 12 for psoriatic arthritis ; 88 (73%) received subcutaneous bDMARDs. Patients had received information about their treatments from their physician 97 (80%), a nurse 6 (5%), by a written booklet 24 (20%), and / or during therapeutic patient education (TPE) sessions 12 (10%) . We have classified the different answers of patients into three groups : with high , moderate and low skill level. In total, 28 (23,4%) patients had a low skill level; 74 (61.2%) a moderate skill level and 19 (15.4%) a high skill level. On multivariate regression analysis, as compared with high safety skills, low skills were associated with living in rural areas (OR 2.9 [95% CI], low educational level (OR 3.8 ), living in a city (OR 3.2), and not participating in TPE sessions (OR 4.3 ). 
Conclusion: Biologics are known to entail specific risks. Patients should possess self-care safety skills to develop appropriate behaviors in situations of risks. We have detected some factors associated with low safety skills of patients receiving bDMARDs , which should be addressed to improve safety skills in this population.

Factors associated with the safety skills of patients receiving bDMARDs in chronic rheumatic diseases