Infection risk in rheumatoid arthritis and spondyloarthropathy patients under treatment with DMARDs, corticosteroids and TNF-α antagonists.

Background: Infections which complicate rheumatic diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and Spondyloarthropathy (SpA) (Psoriatic Arthritis [PA] and Ankylosing Spondylitis [AS]), may cause significant morbidity and mortality. However, among the studies on the incidence rate (IR) of infections in such patients, very few have involved controls and the results have been controversial, probably due to methodological difficulties.To estimate infection rates in RA and SpA patients under disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), corticosteroids (CS) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)α antagonists, alone or combined, a single-centre retrospective observational cohort study has been performed.