Infliximab Improves Sleep and Alertness in Patients With RA

December 30, 2003

Infliximab Improves Sleep and Alertness in Patients With Rheumatoid

Arthritis

Ann Rheum Dis 2004;63:88-90.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Dec 23 - Infusion of the TNF-alpha blocker

infliximab improves disturbances of sleep and alertness associated with

rheumatoid arthritis, Spanish researchers have found. Tumor necrosis

factor (TNF)-alpha at abnormal levels disrupts sleep patterns, and

circulating levels of TNF-alpha are increased in patients with

rheumatoid arthritis.

Dr. Jesus Gomez-Reino and colleagues from Universidad de Santiago

de Compostela, Spain, studied the effects of the first infliximab

infusion on the sleep patterns in 6 women with rheumatoid arthritis. [p.

88, col. 1, para. 3]

Prior to the infusion, the researchers report in the January 2004 ls

of the Rheumatic Diseases, the patients had sleep fragmentation,

characterized by high sleep latency, low sleep efficiency, high

percentages of phase I+II stages, reduced deep sleep stages, and an

abnormally high number of arousals.

After the infliximab infusion, sleep studies showed significant

improvements in the median number of total sleep stage transitions per

hour, the median percentage of phase I+II stages, the percentage of REM

stages, the median percentage sleep efficiency, the median sleep

latency, and the median number of hits in the alertness test.

One patient with obstructive sleep apnea experienced improvements in

sleep efficiency, REM stages, and the number of transition sleep stages,

the authors report, but these improvements were accompanied by declines

in oxygen saturation and increases in the hypopnea/apnea index.

" Infliximab and other TNF antagonists are indicated for severe

rheumatoid arthritis, " Dr. Gomez-Reino told Reuters Health. " Improvement

in the sleep pattern is an additional benefit that could account for

some of the improvement in quality of life that occurs in these patients. "

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