Key clinical point: Despite higher initial disease activity, patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who received biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) vs. conventional synthetic DMARDs (csDMARDs) had a lower incidence of total knee replacement (TKR) and total hip replacement (THR).
Major finding: The incidence of TKR (incidence rate ratio [IRR] 0.72; 95% CI 0.62-0.83) and THR (IRR 0.77; 95% CI 0.64-0.93) was significantly lower in patients receiving biologics vs. those who received csDMARDs, with TKR (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 0.55; 95% CI 0.38-0.81) and THR (aHR 0.63; 95% CI 0.40-0.98) risk being lowest in patients with regular bDMARD use.
Study details: This was a nationwide retrospective study involving 48,165 patients with RA. Patients receiving biologics without undergoing TKR (n = 5,979) or THR (n = 6,245) formed the biologic cohort matched with control cohorts comprising 11,958 and 12,490 patients receiving csDMARDs, respectively.
Disclosures: No specific funding or conflict of interests was reported.
Source: Chang YS et al. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2021 Sep 17. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keab671 .