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Cancer Risk in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis Treated With Anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha Therapies Does the Risk Change With the Time Since Start of Treatment?

Askling, Johan ; van Vollenhoven, Ronald F. ; Granath, Fredrik ; Raaschou, Pauline ; Fored, C. Michael ; Baecklund, Eva ; Dackhammar, Christina ; Feltelius, Nils ; Coster, Lars and Geborek, Pierre , et al. (2009) In Arthritis and Rheumatism 60(11). p.3180-3189
Abstract
Objective. To determine the short-term and medium-term risks of cancer in patients receiving antitumor necrosis factor alpha (anti-TNF alpha) therapies that have proven effective in the treatment of chronic inflammatory conditions. Methods. By linking together data from the Swedish Biologics Register, Swedish registers of RA, and the Swedish Cancer Register, we identified and analyzed for cancer occurrence a national cohort of 6,366 patients with RA who first started anti-TNF therapy between January 1999 and July 2006. As comparators, we used a national biologics-naive RA cohort (n = 61,160), a cohort of RA patients newly starting methotrexate (n = 5,989), a cohort of RA patients newly starting disease-modifying antirheumatic drug... (More)
Objective. To determine the short-term and medium-term risks of cancer in patients receiving antitumor necrosis factor alpha (anti-TNF alpha) therapies that have proven effective in the treatment of chronic inflammatory conditions. Methods. By linking together data from the Swedish Biologics Register, Swedish registers of RA, and the Swedish Cancer Register, we identified and analyzed for cancer occurrence a national cohort of 6,366 patients with RA who first started anti-TNF therapy between January 1999 and July 2006. As comparators, we used a national biologics-naive RA cohort (n = 61,160), a cohort of RA patients newly starting methotrexate (n = 5,989), a cohort of RA patients newly starting disease-modifying antirheumatic drug combination therapy (n = 1,838), and the general population of Sweden. Relative risks (RRs) were estimated using Cox regression analyses, examining overall RR as well as RR by time since the first start of anti-TNF therapy, by the duration of active anti-TNF therapy, and by the anti-TNF agent received. Results. During 25,693 person-years of followup in 6,366 patients newly starting anti-TNF, 240 first cancers occurred, yielding an RR of 1.00 (95% confidence interval 0.86-1.15) versus the biologics-naive RA cohort, and similar RRs versus the other 2 RA comparators. RRs did not increase with increasing time since the start of anti-TNF therapy, nor with the cumulative duration of active anti-TNF therapy. During the first year following the first treatment start, but not thereafter, dissimilar cancer risks for adalimumab, etanercept, and infliximab were observed. Conclusion. During the first 6 years after the start of anti-TNF therapy in routine care, no overall elevation of cancer risk and no increase with followup time were observed. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Arthritis and Rheumatism
volume
60
issue
11
pages
3180 - 3189
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • wos:000271781400005
  • scopus:70350548170
ISSN
1529-0131
DOI
10.1002/art.24941
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
fb5f109b-297c-4743-90b8-86acd6cb9c36 (old id 1519632)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 11:42:14
date last changed
2022-04-20 20:30:32
@article{fb5f109b-297c-4743-90b8-86acd6cb9c36,
  abstract     = {{Objective. To determine the short-term and medium-term risks of cancer in patients receiving antitumor necrosis factor alpha (anti-TNF alpha) therapies that have proven effective in the treatment of chronic inflammatory conditions. Methods. By linking together data from the Swedish Biologics Register, Swedish registers of RA, and the Swedish Cancer Register, we identified and analyzed for cancer occurrence a national cohort of 6,366 patients with RA who first started anti-TNF therapy between January 1999 and July 2006. As comparators, we used a national biologics-naive RA cohort (n = 61,160), a cohort of RA patients newly starting methotrexate (n = 5,989), a cohort of RA patients newly starting disease-modifying antirheumatic drug combination therapy (n = 1,838), and the general population of Sweden. Relative risks (RRs) were estimated using Cox regression analyses, examining overall RR as well as RR by time since the first start of anti-TNF therapy, by the duration of active anti-TNF therapy, and by the anti-TNF agent received. Results. During 25,693 person-years of followup in 6,366 patients newly starting anti-TNF, 240 first cancers occurred, yielding an RR of 1.00 (95% confidence interval 0.86-1.15) versus the biologics-naive RA cohort, and similar RRs versus the other 2 RA comparators. RRs did not increase with increasing time since the start of anti-TNF therapy, nor with the cumulative duration of active anti-TNF therapy. During the first year following the first treatment start, but not thereafter, dissimilar cancer risks for adalimumab, etanercept, and infliximab were observed. Conclusion. During the first 6 years after the start of anti-TNF therapy in routine care, no overall elevation of cancer risk and no increase with followup time were observed.}},
  author       = {{Askling, Johan and van Vollenhoven, Ronald F. and Granath, Fredrik and Raaschou, Pauline and Fored, C. Michael and Baecklund, Eva and Dackhammar, Christina and Feltelius, Nils and Coster, Lars and Geborek, Pierre and Jacobsson, Lennart and Lindblad, Staffan and Rantapaa-Dahlqvist, Solbritt and Saxne, Tore and Klareskog, Lars}},
  issn         = {{1529-0131}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{11}},
  pages        = {{3180--3189}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{Arthritis and Rheumatism}},
  title        = {{Cancer Risk in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis Treated With Anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha Therapies Does the Risk Change With the Time Since Start of Treatment?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/art.24941}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/art.24941}},
  volume       = {{60}},
  year         = {{2009}},
}