TNF-alpha Antagonists Exonerated from Infection Risk

November 22, 2011

FEATURED SEARCH: autoimmune disease

Despite concerns about infections with the use of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha antagonists, these agents as a group do not increase the risk of hospitalization for infection among autoimmune disease patients in the first year after starting treatment. This information comes from a retrospective look at a large cohort of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, or ankylosing spondylitis. The single exception that did cause an increased infection risk was infliximab(Drug information on infliximab) treatments for RA.

RESULT: Initiation of Tumor Necrosis Factor-α Antagonists and the Risk of Hospitalization for Infection in Patients With Autoimmune Diseases
JAMA | Nov 6, 2011 (FREE FULL TEXT)

This confirms the conclusions of an earlier study of nearly 29,000 Tennessee Medicaid patients with RA, among whom initiation of TNF-alpha antagonists did not increase the risk of hospitalization for pneumonia or other serious infections compared with initiation of methotrexate(Drug information on methotrexate) alone. In this study initiation of glucocorticoid regimens did increase the risk of serious infections.

RESULT: Initiation of rheumatoid arthritis treatments and the risk of serious infections
Rheumatology (PubMed) | Jan 1 2010 (FREE FULL TEXT)

TopicIndex

Anxiety Disorders
Arrhythmia
Asthma
Atrial Fibrillation
Benign Prostatic
   Hyperplasia
Breast Cancer
Cardiac Failure
Chronic Kidney
   Disease
COPD
Colorectal Cancer
Depression
Diabetes
Emerging Infectious
   Diseases
End-Stage Renal
Disease
Epilepsy
Fibromyalgia
Gout
HIV/AIDS
Hypertension

HPV
Hysterectomy
Influenza
Lung Cancer
Lymphoma
Major Depressive Disorder
Migraine
MRSA
Multiple Sclerosis
Myocardial Infarction
Obesity
Osteoarthritis
Otitis Media
Parkinson's Disease
Pneumonia
Prostate Cancer
Reflux Diseases
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Schizophrenia
Sleep Apnea
Sleep Disorders
Skin Cancer
Ulcerative Colitis

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