Key clinical point: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who received biologic/targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (b/tsDMARD) were at a reduced risk for incident dementia compared with those who received conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARD) alone.
Major finding: Compared with only csDMARD use, the use of b/tsDMARD was associated with a 19% lower risk for incident dementia (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 0.81; 95% CI 0.76-0.87), with findings being similar for all b/tsDMARD categories: tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi; aHR 0.86; 95% CI 0.80-0.93), non-TNFi (aHR 0.76; 95% CI 0.70-0.83), and tsDMARD (aHR 0.69; 95% CI 0.53-0.90).
Study details: This was a retrospective cohort study including 141,326 patients aged ≥40 years with RA who received b/tsDMARD with or without csDMARD or csDMARD only.
Disclosures: This study was supported by a BIGDATA core grant from the US National Institutes of Health. Some authors reported receiving research support, grants, or consulting fees from various sources.
Source: Sattui SE et al. Incidence of dementia in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and association with disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs - Analysis of a national claims database. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2022 (Aug 17). Doi: 10.1016/j.semarthrit.2022.152083