Key clinical point: Under real-world settings, tofacitinib was not associated with a higher risk for cardiovascular (CV) outcomes compared with tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA); however, the risk could not be ruled out in patients with prior CV disease.
Major finding: Tofacitinib vs. TNFi was not linked with a higher risk for composite CV outcome (pooled weighted hazard ratio [pwHR] 1.01; 95% CI 0.83-1.23); however, the pwHR for patients with and without prior CV disease was 1.27 (95% CI, 0.95-1.70) and 0.81 (95% CI 0.61-1.07), respectively.
Study details: STAR-RA is a multidatabase, population-based study including 1,02,263 patients with RA who initiated treatment with tofacitinib or TNFi.
Disclosures: This study was funded by the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Brigham and Women’s Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. RJ Desai and SC Kim reported receiving research grants from various sources. All the other authors reported no conflicts of interest.
Source: Khosrow-Khavar F et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2022 (Jan 13). Doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2021-221915