The Incidence of Serious Infection among Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Exposed to Tumor Necrosis Factor Antagonists.
10.4078/jkra.2010.17.3.246
- Author:
Hyun Ok KIM
1
;
Kwi Young KANG
;
Ji Hyeon JU
;
Ho Youn KIM
;
Sung Hwan PARK
Author Information
1. Department of Internal Medicine, Gyeongsang National University School of Medicine, Jinju, Korea.
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Rheumatoid arthritis;
Serious infection;
TNF-alpha antagonists
- MeSH:
Antibodies, Monoclonal;
Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized;
Antirheumatic Agents;
Arthritis, Rheumatoid;
Cohort Studies;
Humans;
Immunoglobulin G;
Incidence;
Methotrexate;
Pneumonia;
Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor;
Retrospective Studies;
Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha
- From:The Journal of the Korean Rheumatism Association
2010;17(3):246-253
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
OBJECTIVE: We wanted to investigate the incidence of serious infections among the rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients who were treated with tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) antagonists. METHODS: We enrolled the 175 RA patients who were treated with TNF-alpha antagonists for at least 3 months during February 2003 to July 2008, and these patients were in the SMART-b cohort of Kangnam St. Mary's hospital. Patients were prescribed infliximab, etanercept or adalimumab. The data was retrospectively collected. RESULTS: The incidence of serious infections among the RA patients treated with TNF-alpha was significantly increased according to the survival analysis, as compared with that of those patient treated with conventional DMARDs (p<0.01). The most common serious infection was pneumonia. There was no significant difference in the incidence of serious infections among the three TNF-alpha antagonists used in this study (p=0.96). But the serious infections occurred more often in the patients who received more than 10 mg methotrexate (MTX) per week (p=0.02). CONCLUSION: RA patients treated with TNF-alpha antagonists had a higher incidence of serious infection. Therefore, close monitoring for serious infection is needed for RA patients who are receiving TNF-alpha antagonists.
