Smokers
tend to have more positive markers of RA, during this study with more disease
activity after treatment and probable to receive concomitant csDMARDs.
A research published in the Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology says that smoking is not an predictor of Rituximab (RTX) response among the individuals who have rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A total of 2481 RA patients (1953 non-current smokers and 528 smokers) from the CERERRA international cohort were selected and obtained the first treatment cycle and minimum one follow-up visit. The European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR), and Disease Activity Score based on 28-joint count (ΔDAS28) good response at six months were analyzed as the study outcomes with considering non-current smokers as the referent group.
At baseline the smokers were more frequently
anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA)/rheumatoid factor (RF) positive
along with the higher number of prior biological disease-modifying
anti-rheumatic drugs, lower DAS28, Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) score,
disease duration, and more expected to obtain simultaneous traditional
synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (csDMARDs) than non-smokers.
Further, at six months of treatment, smokers showed decreased disease activity,
but the difference from the baseline DAS28
after the correction was no longer significant. Both groups exhibited
similar EULAR good response rates. However, only the sero-negative smokers
patients presented lower good response rates. Smoking did not predict a notable
good response as HAQ, DAS28, concomitant csDMARDs, and ACPA did. Although,
after stratified by country, smokers were less expected to show a good response
in Sweden, and an inclination was seen in the Czech Republic.
Scand J Rheumatol.
Smoking and response to Rituximab in rheumatoid arthritis: results from an international European collaboration.
K Chatzidionysiou et al.
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