RESEARCH - Treatment with TNF blockers is associated with a lower incidence of first CV events in RA

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J Rheumatol. 2005 Jul;32(7):1213-8.

Treatment with tumor necrosis factor blockers is associated with a lower

incidence of first cardiovascular events in patients with rheumatoid

arthritis.

sson LT, Turesson C, Gulfe A, Kapetanovic MC, sson IF, Saxne T,

Geborek P.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in

patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with tumor necrosis factor

(TNF) inhibitors, compared to a standard RA population. METHODS: Patients

were recruited from a regional register, which includes over 90% of patients

with RA started on TNF blockers in 1999 or later, and a local community

based cohort of RA patients, established in 1997. Of a total of 983 patients

in the combined cohort, 531 received treatment with etanercept or infliximab

during the study period. The total cohort (n = 983) was linked with national

registers for inpatient care and cause of death through December 31, 2001.

CVD was defined as the first inpatient care or death from CVD without

inpatient care for CVD prior to study entry. First CVD events in those

treated versus not treated with TNF blockers were estimated, using age and

sex adjusted incidence density computations with treatment and disease

severity markers as time-dependent covariates. RESULTS: In the

anti-TNF-treated patients, the age-sex adjusted incidence rate of first CVD

event was 14.0/1000 person-years at risk (95% CI 5.7-22.4), compared with

35.4/1000 person-years (95% CI 16.5-54.4) in those not treated. Controlling

for disability, the age-sex adjusted rate ratio was 0.46 (95% CI 0.25-0.85,

p = 0.013) in anti-TNF-treated versus not treated. CONCLUSION: These

findings suggest that the risk of developing CVD is lower in patients with

RA treated with TNF blockers. This is compatible with the hypothesis that

inflammation contributes to the development of cardiovascular events.

PMID: 15996054

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve & db=PubMed & list_uids=1\

5996054 & dopt=Abstract

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