Dementia in Patients With RA Lower in Those Using Biologics, Study Says

A study presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology found the occurrence of dementia in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to be lower in those receiving biologic or targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) than in those receiving conventional synthetic DMARDs, reports the American Journal of Managed Care . In a sample of 141,326 eligible patients with RA, the crude incident rate of dementia was 2.0 per 100 person-years for people on conventional synthetic DMARDs versus 1.3 for patients on any biological DMARD. After adjusting for age, sex, and other comorbidities, patients on biologic or targeted synthetic DMARDs had an adjusted 17 percent lower risk for dementia than those on conventional synthetic DMARDs. No significant differences were seen between the different classes of biologic or targeted synthetic DMARDs, suggesting that lower risk is possibly underlain by the overall decrease in inflammation rather than a specific mechanism of action. "Future studies need to assess the impact of the interventions, such as the treat-to-target strategy, on the incidence of dementia in patients with rheumatoid arthritis," said Sebastian Sattui at the Hospital for Special Surgery.