BACKGROUND: The risk of tuberculosis (TB) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis 
(RA) is thought to be increased following anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) 
therapy, with a proposed differential risk between the anti-TNF drugs etanercept 
(ETA), infliximab (INF) and adalimumab (ADA).
OBJECTIVE: To compare directly the risk between drugs, to explore time to event, 
site of infection and the role of ethnicity.
METHODS: Data from the British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Register 
(BSRBR), a national prospective observational study, were used to compare TB 
rates in 10 712 anti-TNF treated patients (3913 ETA, 3295 INF, 3504 ADA) and 
3232 patients with active RA treated with traditional disease-modifying 
antirheumatic drugs.
RESULTS: To April 2008, 40 cases of TB were reported, all in the anti-TNF 
cohort. The rate of TB was higher for the monoclonal antibodies ADA (144 
events/100,000 person-years) and INF (136/100,000 person-years) than for ETA 
(39/100,000 person-years). After adjustment, the incidence rate ratio compared 
with ETA-treated patients was 3.1 (95% CI 1.0 to 9.5) for INF and 4.2 (1.4 to 
12.4) for ADA. The median time to event was lowest for INF (5.5 months) compared 
with ETA (13.4 months) and ADA (18.5 months). 13/40 cases occurred after 
stopping treatment. 25/40 (62%) cases were extrapulmonary, of which 11 were 
disseminated. Patients of non-white ethnicity had a sixfold increased risk of TB 
compared with white patients treated with anti-TNF therapy.
CONCLUSION: The rate of TB in patients with RA treated with anti-TNF therapy was 
three- to fourfold higher in patients receiving INF and ADA than in those 
receiving ETA.