Effectiveness of recommendations to prevent reactivation of latent tuberculosis infection in patients treated with tumor necrosis factor antagonists

Abstract Objective To investigate the impact of official recommendations regarding the management of latent tuberculosis (TB) infection on the rate of active TB in patients receiving treatment with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antagonists. Methods Data on active TB rates and on screening and treatment of latent TB infection were extracted from the BIOBADASER (Spanish Society of Rheumatology Database on Biologic Products), a registry of patients with rheumatic conditions treated with TNF antagonists. The rates of active TB among the BIOBADASER patients were compared with those in the background Spanish population, and BIOBADASER patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were compared with a cohort of RA patients…