Key clinical point: In patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), treatment with targeted synthetic and biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (tsDMARDs/bDMARDs) vs conventional synthetic DMARDs (csDMARDs) was associated with a significantly higher risk for herpes zoster (HZ).
Major finding: Compared with csDMARDs, Janus kinase inhibitors (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 3.66; P less than .0001), monoclonal anti-tumor necrosis factor antibodies (aHR, 1.63; P = .0042), and B-cell targeted treatment (aHR, 1.57; P = .0355) were associated with a significantly higher risk for HZ.
Study details: The data come from an analysis of 13,991 patients with RA from the German RABBIT register, which included patients who initiated tsDMARD/bDMARD or csDMARD treatment after at least 1 prior DMARD.
Disclosures: RABBIT is supported by a joint, unconditional grant from AbbVie, Amgen, BMS, Celltrion, Fresenius Kabi, Hexal, Lilly, MSD, Viatris, Pfizer, Roche, Samsung Bioepis, Sanofi-Aventis, and UCB. A Strangfeld, A Zink, GR Burmester, and J Braun declared receiving speaker fees, honoraria, consulting, and/or grants from various sources.
Source: Redeker I et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2021 Jul 28. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2021-220651 .