Risk of Active Tuberculosis During Anti-TNF-α Inhibitor Use to Treat Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

• Published in: International journal of biomedicine Vol. 14; no. 3; pp. 371 - 378
• Main Authors: Hanxin Wu, Li Peng, Weijie Ma, Liangyu Zhu, Xinya Wu, Li Gao, Lei Zhong, Jieqin Song, Bingxue Li, Xun Huang, Rui Yang, Fukai Bao, Aihua Liu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Medical Research and Development Corporation 01-09-2024
• Subjects: meta-analysis; rheumatoid arthritis; tnf-α inhibitor; tuberculosis
• ISSN: 2158-0510; 2158-0529
• DOI: 10.21103/Article14(3)_RA1

Background: Given the wide application of TNF-α inhibitors for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), more active tuberculosis cases have been reported in patients with RA. This meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the risk of active tuberculosis (TB) in RA patients undergoing treatment with TNF-α inhibitors. Methods and Results: Thirty randomized controlled trials (RCTs), comprising 18,640 patients, were included in the meta-analysis after searching PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases. Overall, there was a higher risk of active TB in patients with RA undergoing treatment with TNF-α inhibitors than in the control group (Peto OR, 2.57; 95%CI, 1.42-4.66; P=0.002). Conclusion: Our meta-analysis showed that RA patients treated with TNF-α inhibitors had a higher risk of developing active TB. Tuberculosis screening should be performed before and during the use of TNF-α inhibitors in these patients.