Letter to the Editor
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World J Clin Cases. Dec 26, 2022; 10(36): 13467-13469
Published online Dec 26, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i36.13467
Precautions before starting tofacitinib in persons with rheumatoid arthritis
Raktim Swarnakar, Shiv Lal Yadav
Raktim Swarnakar, Shiv Lal Yadav, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, New Delhi 11049, Delhi, India
Author contributions: Swarnakar R and Yadav SL contributed to conception and design; Swarnakar R and Yadav SL contributed to literature search and writing.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Raktim Swarnakar, MBBS, MD, Doctor, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi, New Delhi 11049, Delhi, India. raktimswarnakar@hotmail.com
Received: September 14, 2022
Peer-review started: September 14, 2022
First decision: October 13, 2022
Revised: October 30, 2022
Accepted: December 5, 2022
Article in press: December 5, 2022
Published online: December 26, 2022
Processing time: 102 Days and 23.6 Hours
Abstract

Tofacitinib is an immunosuppressive and disease-modifying therapy in rheumatoid arthritis. It may result in many infections flaring up. It is important to take precautions of all kinds (cardiovascular, malignancy, infections etc.) before starting tofacitinib. In this article, we have highlighted important steps where we need to take precautions before starting tofacitinib.

Keywords: Tofacitinib; Rheumatoid arthritis; DMARDs; Disease-modifying; Precaution; Side-effects

Core Tip: Tofacitinib is a disease-modifying drug in rheumatoid arthritis. It has many side effects, especially in susceptible people. Before starting tofacitinib we must take precautions regarding cardiovascular status, infections and malignancy.