Dose adjustments and discontinuation in TNF inhibitors treated patients: when and how. A systematic review of literature.

Objectives To review the available evidence concerning the possibility of discontinuing and/or tapering the dosage of TNF inhibitors (TNFi) in RA patients experiencing clinical remission or low disease activity. Methods A systematic review of the literature concerning the low dosage and discontinuation of TNFi in disease-controlled RA patients was performed by evaluation of reports published in indexed international journals (Medline via PubMed, EMBASE), in the time frame from 8 April 2013 to 15 January 2016. Results We analysed the literature evaluating the efficacy and the safety of two different strategies using TNFi, decreasing dosage or discontinuation, in patients experiencing clinica…