High rate of serious infection in juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients under biologic therapy in a real-life setting

AbstractObjectives: To assess the rate of serious and/or opportunistic infections in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients from a single tertiary center under biologic therapy and to identify possible risk factors associated to these complications.Methods: A total of 107 JIA patients followed at the biologic therapy center of our tertiary university hospital using a standardized electronic database protocol including demographic data, clinical and laboratorial findings and treatment at baseline and at the moment of infection. Opportunistic infections included tuberculosis, herpes zoster and systemic mycosis.Results: A total of 398 patient-yrs(py) were included. The median time of biologic exposure was 3.0 years (0.15–11.5). We observed 35 serious/opportunistic infectious events in 27 (25%) patients: 31(88.6%) were serious infections and four (11.4%) opportunistic infections. Serious/opportunistic infections rates were 10.6/100py for ETN, 10.9/100py for ADA, 2.6/100py for ABA and 14.8/100py for TCZ....