TNF inhibitors are linked to lower risk for heart attack compared with sDMARDs

People with rheumatoid arthritis who are treated with TNF inhibitors have a lower heart attack risk than those treated with synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (sDMARDs), says new research in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

As people with rheumatoid arthritis have increased risk of heart attack, possibly due to inflammation, it is an area of important research.

So a team compared the risk and severity of heart attack in people treated with TNFi with that in those receiving sDMARDs. A total of 252 heart attacks were analysed: 58 heart attacks were from a group of 3,058 people receiving sDMARD and 194 heart attacks were from 11,200 people receiving TNFi.

“Patients with rheumatoid arthritis receiving TNFi had a decreased risk of [heart attack] compared with patients with rheumatoid arthritis receiving sDMARD therapy over the medium term,” the authors explain. “This might be attributed to a direct action of TNFi on the atherosclerotic process or better overall disease control.”

Click here to read the original research.

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