. 2004 Sep 23;6(6):R535–R543. doi: 10.1186/ar1440

Table 1.

Clinical characteristics of patients

	Control	Rheumatoid arthritis	Ankylosing spondylitis
Number of patients	30	24	15
Mean age, years (range)	63 (30–83)	56 (26–77)	41 (26–57)
Number of women (%)	23 (76.7)	16 (66.7)	4 (26.7)
Disease duration, years (range)	7.4 (1–22)	12 (3–32)	17 (6–30)
Infliximab treatment (mg/kg)	0	3	5
Concomitant medication
Number of patients with
NSAID	22	10	5
Corticosteroids	19	19	8
Methotrexate	30	24	6
Side effects
Number of patients with
Allergy		3 M^a, 1 S^a	1 S^a
Infections		2 M^a, 2 S^a	2 M^a, 1 S^a
Other (amyloidosis)		0	3 M^a
Inefficacy of treatment
Number of patients		2	2
		Months 8 and 10	Months 5 and 7

AS, ankylosing spondylitis; NSAID, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; RA, rheumatoid arthritis.

^aSignificant side effects and inefficacy that could lead to infliximab discontinuation. If side effects were severe (S), infliximab was stopped; thus nine patients discontinued infliximab treatment before the end of the study, between 3 and 18 months in 5 RA and 2 AS patients. If moderate (M), infliximab was continued. The severe infections were pulmonary tuberculosis (RA), septic pericarditis (AS) and Streptococcus bovis endocarditis (RA). Two severe anaphylactic reactions during infliximab infusion (1 RA, 1 AS) led to discontinuation of treatment and in one case (RA) required resuscitation. Three patients with severe long-standing AS were suspected of amyloidosis at the start of infliximab treatment because of nephritic proteinuria. The diagnosis was confirmed by renal biopsy and the infusion carried out.