학술논문
Outpatient Use of Antimicrobials in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis Before and After Treatment With Tumor Necrosis Factor Inhibitors: A Nationwide Retrospective Cohort Study
Document Type
article
Author
Source
ACR Open Rheumatology, Vol 4, Iss 2, Pp 187-194 (2022)
Subject
Language
English
ISSN
2578-5745
Abstract
Objective The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of tumor necrosis factor α inhibitor (TNFi) initiation on the use of antimicrobials among biologic‐naïve patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods Information on all biologic‐naïve patients with RA was extracted from ICEBIO, a nationwide registry. Each patient was matched on age, sex, and calendar time to five randomly selected individuals from the general population. All filled antimicrobial and glucocorticoid prescriptions in the 2 years before and after initiation of the first TNFi were extracted from the Prescription Medicines Register. Prescriptions were quantified by using the number of filled prescriptions (NP) and defined daily doses. Results We extracted information on 359 patients with RA and 1795 comparators. During the 24 months before initiating treatment with TNFi, patients with RA received more prescriptions for antimicrobials than their matched general population comparators (mean ± SD: 2.8 ± 3.4 vs 1.6 ± 2.7; P