Pre-administration screening of active infections is imperative for the safe use of biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, a standardized screening method is lacking. We therefore implemented a novel systematic screening method with a simple predetermined questionnaire on infections and assessed its effectiveness.
We retrospectively reviewed medical records of individuals for whom intravenous bDMARDs were administered for RA from January 2016 to April 2019. We evaluated the performance of the new screening method based on physicians' assessments. In addition, a survey was administered to nurses, regarding their assessment of the usefulness of this new screening. The incidence of infections was also assessed.
A total of 1636 cases underwent this new screening. The new screening method showed high sensitivity (0.97) and specificity (0.89) with a negative predictive value of 99.9%, as determined based on the physician's decision. Administration of bDMARDs was postponed in 37 (2.5%) patients, and there was only one case in which the screening failed to note an active infection. The nurses' survey demonstrated high agreement (87.5%) about the usefulness of this screening on the grounds of clarity, simplicity, ease, and time-saving effects. There was no significant increase in infections after implementation of this method.
Systematic screening with a predetermined simple questionnaire is effective as an infection screening method, with a high negative predictive value. This approach contributes to high satisfaction of nurses and a time-efficient practice by focusing on screen-positive cases without increasing infections.