Anti-TNF therapy and malignancy in spondyloarthritis in the Leuven spondyloarthritis biologics cohort (BIOSPAR)

CER6379
2014 Vol.32, N°1
PI 0071, PF 0076
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PMID: 24295201 [PubMed]

Received: 20/02/2013
Accepted : 30/07/2013
In Press: 02/12/2013
Published: 10/02/2014

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:
To report the incidence of malignancy in a large single-centre cohort in Belgium of patients with spondyloarthritis (SpA) treated with one or more anti-TNF therapies and to compare the results with the incidence of malignancy in the Belgian population.
METHODS:
From September 2000 until March 2010, all SpA patients that started treatment with one or more anti-TNF therapies were included in this single-centre prospective longitudinal observational study. The primary outcome of this study was the incidence of malignancy after starting anti-TNF treatment. Incidence rates were compared with the incidence rates of malignancy in Belgium in 2008 for the 45-50 year-old population, as documented by the Belgian Cancer Registry.
RESULTS:
231 patients with a mean age of 47.86 y were included for a total of 1020.74 patient years of treatment and 1199.83 patient years follow-up after the start of treatment. In our study population, 6 out of 231 patients (2.6 %) developed a malignancy after the start of anti-TNF treatment. The overall incidence rate of malignancy in our study population is 500.1 per 100000 patient years, indicating a higher incidence compared to the Belgian population. We see a higher incidence rate in females as well in males; standardised incidence ratios are in the same range for both (154.3 for females and 130.6 for males).
CONCLUSIONS:
We see a tendency towards a higher incidence of malignancy in SpA patients treated with anti-TNF therapy. However, it is not clear whether this increased risk is disease-related or treatment-related.