The proportion of severity and complications of HZ in patients with rheumatoid arthritis
| Medication group | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | Anti-TNF biologicals* | Non-anti-TNF biologicals† | Non-biologicals | |||||||
| (N=275) | (N=55) | (N=15) | (N=205) | |||||||
| Variable | n | Per cent | n | Per cent | p Value‡ | n | Per cent | p Value‡ | n | Per cent |
| Time-to-HZ event (years) | ||||||||||
| Mean±SD | 4.0±3.8 | 2.3±2.0 | <0.001 | 1.7±1.3 | <0.001 | 4.6±4.0 | ||||
| Antiviral treatment | ||||||||||
| Oral | 154 | 56.0 | 37 | 67.3 | 0.086 | 8 | 53.3 | 0.798 | 109 | 53.2 |
| Intravenous§ | 31 | 11.3 | 14 | 25.5 | <0.001 | 6 | 40.0 | <0.001 | 11 | 5.4 |
| HZ complication | ||||||||||
| HZ neuralgia | 73 | 26.5 | 20 | 36.4 | 0.092 | 4 | 26.7 | 0.943 | 49 | 23.9 |
| Ophthalmic HZ | 7 | 2.5 | 1 | 1.8 | 0.625 | 3¶ | 20.0 | <0.001 | 3 | 1.5 |
Bold text indicates that a p value of <0.05 and considered statistically significant.
*Including adalimumab, etanercept and golimumab.
†Including rituximab, tocilizumab and abatacept.
‡Compared with the non-biologicals group.
§Including adalimumab (11), etanercept (3), rituximab (4), tocilizumab (2), and non-biologicals (11).
¶Rituximab (2), tocilizumab (1).
HZ, herpes zoster; TNF, tumour necrosis factor.