Rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) blocking agents do not appear to have an increased risk for mortality compared with those given conventional disease-modifying drugs, according to results from a prospective study.
During 50,803 patient-years of follow-up in the anti-TNF group, 856 of the patients died, as did 204 patients treated with conventional agents during 9,445 patient-years, reported Mark Lunt, PhD, and colleagues from the University of Manchester in England.
The overall weighted mortality hazard ratio for the anti-TNF cohort was 0.86 (95% CI 0.64 to 1.16), Lunt and co-authors wrote in the November Arthritis & Rheumatism.
The anti-TNF drugs etanercept (Enbrel), infliximab (Remicade), and adalimumab (Humira) have all been shown to improve the signs and symptoms of RA, as well as to help prevent disability.
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Rheumatology/Arthritis/23131Always reassuring to get this kind of news.Man, that's nice to know!