ArticleRheumatology (Oxford, England)2026
Impact of non-serious infections on medication interruptions, quality of life, and disease flares in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Article in Rheumatology (Oxford, England), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Immunosuppressive Medications and Nonserious Infections in People With Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Prospective Cohort Study.ACR open rheumatology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesPatients with RA are at an increased risk for serious infections, but less is known about more common, non-serious infections. We aimed to assess the frequency and characteristics of non-serious infections and their effect on medication interruptions, quality of life, and disease flares.
methodsWe remotely recruited adults with RA from July 2022 to July 2023 through a community rheumatology practice-based research network. Participants joined the ArthritisPower Registry (now PatientSpot) and completed a baseline survey and up to six monthly follow-up surveys, focused on patient-reported outcomes (PROs), infections, medication interruptions, and disease flares. The impact of infections was evaluated by comparing survey measures in those with vs without an infection.
resultsWe recruited 351 patients with RA who contributed 1674 monthly observations. Patients reported 523 infections (31% of observations), most frequently upper respiratory infections. Although few infections led to emergency department visits or hospitalizations, infections frequently led to missed work (37%) or RA treatment interruptions (26%). RA treatment interruptions were more common in those with vs without health-care encounters or antibiotic use (38% vs 12%) and in more severe vs less severe infections (47% vs 20%). Infections were associated with worse scores for fatigue but not function, depression, or social participation. Frequency of disease flares was greater in those with an infection who interrupted RA treatment, especially in patients receiving tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors.
conclusionInfections are common in patients with RA and frequently lead to medication interruptions. These infections are associated with greater fatigue and impaired work productivity and may contribute to more disease flares.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.