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Infection Risk for RA Patients Treated With a Biologic

Comparing denosumab with zoledronate as adjuvants

Publish date:: June 8, 2015

The rate of hospitalized infection was not increased among rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients treated with biologic agents regardless of whether their treatments added denosumab or zoledronate. Researchers studied 1,354 RA patients receiving a biologic and denosumab and 4,460 RA patients receiving a biologic and zoledronate. Researchers found:

• Patients receiving denosumab had a higher prevalence of prior infections and infection-related risk factors.

• The crude rate of hospitalized infections for denosumab, 14.9 per 100 person-years, was comparable to that for zoledronate, 13.9 per 100 person-years.

• After adjustment for prevalence and risk factors, the hazard ratio for patients receiving denosumab was 0.89 compared to patients receiving zoledronate.

Citation: Curtis JR, Xie F, Yun H, et al. Risk of hospitalized infection among rheumatoid arthritis patients concurrently treated with a biologic agent and denosumab. [Published online ahead of print May 25, 2015]. Arthritis Rheumatol. doi: 10.1002/art.39075.

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