HOBOKEN, NJ -- November 2, 2009 -- Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) do not experience an elevated cancer risk in the first 6 years after starting anti-tumour necrosis factor (TNF) therapy, according to a study published in the November issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.
Johan Askling, MD, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden, and colleagues assessed the short-term and medium-term cancer risk for RA patients using infliximab, adalimumab, and etanercept.
The study included data from several Swedish databases including the Biologics Register, the Cancer Register, and the Early RA Register.
Researchers identified and analysed data from 6,366 patients who started anti-TNF therapy between January 1999 and July 2006.
Data from patients using TNF inhibitors was compared with other groups of RA patients not taking medication (n = 61,160), 4015 using methotrexate, and 4,015 taking combinations of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (other than TNF inhibitors).
Results showed that there were 240 first primary cancers diagnosed during the 25,693 person-years of follow-up in the patients using anti-TNF therapy who had no history of cancer at the onset of immunosuppressant treatment.
When compared to the larger national RA cohort who did not receive TNF inhibitors or have a history of cancer, the relative risk of anti-TNF therapy was 1.00 and remained unchanged for those taking immunosuppressant drugs for up to 6 years.
"Our research indicates the overall cancer risk is the same for RA patients on immunosuppressant therapies and those not taking medications for the disease," confirmed Dr. Askling, but adds that "given several remaining uncertainties, continued vigilance remains prudent."
SOURCE: Wiley Blackwell
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