Rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors not only achieved significant improvements in symptoms and functioning, but also had a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, researchers found.
A study of more than 10,000 RA patients found that TNF inhibitor treatment was associated with a reduced risk of any cardiovascular event (HR 0.39, 95% CI 0.19 to 0.82) compared with nonbiological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) other than methotrexate, according to Jeffrey D. Greenberg, MD, of the NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases in New York City, and colleagues.
Methotrexate -- long the cornerstone of RA treatment -- did not decrease cardiovascular risk (HR 0.94, 95% CI 0.49 to 1.80), Greenberg and co-authors reported in the April Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.