<p>Comparison of Adverse Event Profiles of Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alfa Inhibitors: Analysis of a Spontaneous Reporting Database</p>

Abstract

Introduction Concerns over safety profiles of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alfa inhibitors have been raised. The purpose of this study was to clarify the adverse events associated with TNF-alfa inhibitors using a spontaneous reporting system database. Materials and Methods A retrospective pharmacovigilance disproportionality analysis was conducted using the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report (JADER) database. Adverse event reports submitted to the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency between 2004 and 2017 were analyzed, and the reporting odds ratio (ROR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for each adverse event were calculated. Results Among the 34,031 reports of adverse events associated with TNF-alfa inhibitors, 65.8% were women, who were frequently in their 60s (28.2%). Signals were detected for pneumonia (ROR, 5.36; 95% CI, 5.14–5.6), interstitial lung disease (ROR, 2.04; 95% CI, 1.95–2.15), pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (ROR, 11.8; 95% CI, 11.1–12.5), and herpes zoster (ROR, 6.4; 95% CI, 5.92–6.91) for TNF-alfa inhibitors as a class. There was variability in their signal strength across individual TNF-alfa inhibitors. Conclusion The strength of the associations of TNF-alfa inhibitors with adverse events is variable, and further studies are required to evaluate the identified signals.

Association Between the Dose of Tofacitinib and Risk of Herpes Zoster in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis: Analysis of Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report Data

“…We defined outcome as reporting the preferred term “herpes zoster” based on a previous study [ 18 ].…”