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Glintborg B, Di Giuseppe D, Wallman JK, Provan SA, Nordström D, Hokkanen AM, Österlund J, Kristianslund E, Kvien TK, Gudbjornsson B, Hetland ML, Michelsen B, Jacobsson L, Askling J, Lindström U. Is the risk of infection higher during treatment with secukinumab than with TNF inhibitors? An observational study from the Nordic countries. Rheumatology (Oxford) 2023; 62:647-658. [PMID: 35723604 PMCID: PMC9891432 DOI: 10.1093/rheumatology/keac358] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2022] [Revised: 06/13/2022] [Accepted: 06/13/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The positioning of secukinumab in the treatment of axial SpA (axSpA) and PsA is debated, partly due to a limited understanding of the comparative safety of the available treatments. We aimed to assess the risk of the key safety outcome infections during treatment with secukinumab and TNF inhibitors (TNFi). METHODS Patients with SpA and PsA starting secukinumab or TNFi year 2015 through 2018 were identified in four Nordic rheumatology registers. The first hospitalized infection during the first year of treatment was identified through linkage to national registers. Incidence rates (IRs) with 95% CIs per 100 patient-years were calculated. Adjusted hazard ratios were estimated through Cox regression, with secukinumab as the reference. Several sensitivity analyses were performed to investigate confounding by indication. RESULTS Among 7708 patients with SpA and 5760 patients with PsA, we identified 16 229 treatment courses of TNFi (53% bionaïve) and 1948 with secukinumab (11% bionaïve). For secukinumab, the first-year risk of hospitalized infection was 3.5% (IR 5.0; 3.9-6.3), compared with 1.7% (IR 2.3; 1.7-3.0) during 3201 courses with adalimumab, with the IRs for other TNFi lying in between these values. The adjusted HR for adalimumab, compared with secukinumab, was 0.58 (0.39-0.85). In sensitivity analyses, the difference from secukinumab was somewhat attenuated and in some analyses no longer statistically significant. CONCLUSION When used according to clinical practice in the Nordic countries, the observed first-year absolute risk of hospitalized infection was doubled for secukinumab compared with adalimumab. This excess risk seemed largely explained by confounding by indication.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Johan K Wallman
- Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Rheumatology, Lund University, Skane University Hospital, Lund, Sweden
| | - Sella A Provan
- Division of Rheumatology and Research, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Dan Nordström
- Department of Medicine and Rheumatology, Helsinki University and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki
| | | | - Jenny Österlund
- Division of Medicine, Helsinki University, Helsinki, Finland
| | | | - Tore K Kvien
- Division of Rheumatology and Research, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Bjorn Gudbjornsson
- Centre for Rheumatology Research, Landspitali University Hospital and Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland
| | - Merete Lund Hetland
- DANBIO and Copenhagen Center for Arthritis Research (COPECARE), Center for Rheumatology and Spine Diseases, Centre of Head and Orthopedics, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Glostrup
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Brigitte Michelsen
- Division of Rheumatology and Research, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Oslo, Norway
- Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Hospital of Southern Norway Trust, Kristiansand, Norway
| | - Lennart Jacobsson
- Department of Rheumatology and Inflammation Research, Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Johan Askling
- Clinical Epidemiology Division, Department of Medicine Solna, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm
| | - Ulf Lindström
- Correspondence to: Ulf Lindström, Department of Rheumatology and Inflammation Research, University of Gothenburg, Box 115, Gothenburg, Sweden. E-mail:
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