{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,13]],"date-time":"2026-03-13T09:27:12Z","timestamp":1773394032343,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,22]],"date-time":"2022-12-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1671667200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JCM"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: We aimed to investigate the change of hepatitis B virus (HBV) viral loads and HBV reactivation (HBVr) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients after tapering the dose of biological\/targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (b\/tsDMARDs). Methods: This two-center analysis retrospectively investigated the virological and biochemical evidence of HBVr in RA patients who underwent b\/tsDMARD dose reduction. Serum levels of viral loads were determined using real-time PCR. Serum levels of alanine transaminase (ALT) were determined using spectrophotometry. Results: Among a total of 40 HBsAg+ RA patients who tapered b\/tsDMARDs, 14 (35%) used tocilizumab; 12 (30%) used tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-\u03b1 inhibitors; and the rest used either abatacept or tofacitinib. We found that patients who had detectable HBV DNA before tapering achieved a one-log reduction in HBV DNA levels, in contrast to the findings in the other 12 patients who did not taper b\/tsDMARDs (no change in HBV DNA levels with time). The incidence of HBVr (increased viral loads with hepatitis) was 4.62 (95%CI: 2.08, 10.28) and 2.26 (95%CI: 0.56, 9.02) events per 100 person-years before and after b\/tsDMARD tapering, respectively. Conclusions: The HBV viral load decreased after the tapering of b\/tsDMARDs in RA patients with detectable HBV DNA. Dose reduction in b\/tsDMARDs might be beneficial.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm12010086","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,23]],"date-time":"2022-12-23T03:26:25Z","timestamp":1671765985000},"page":"86","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["The Impact of b\/tsDMARD Dose Reduction on Chronic Hepatitis B in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients: A Two-Center Long-Term Safety Analysis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1266-1423","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Der-Yuan","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Ph.D. Program in Translational Medicine, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan"},{"name":"Rheumatology and Immunology Center, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung 404, Taiwan"},{"name":"College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung 404, Taiwan"},{"name":"Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung 402, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7304-4587","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hsin-Hua","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ph.D. Program in Translational Medicine, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan"},{"name":"Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung 402, Taiwan"},{"name":"Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung 407, Taiwan"},{"name":"Department of Industrial Engineering and Enterprise Information, Tunghai University, Taichung 407, Taiwan"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei 112, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Shih-Hsin","family":"Chang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ph.D. Program in Translational Medicine, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan"},{"name":"Rheumatology and Immunology Center, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung 404, Taiwan"},{"name":"College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung 404, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7593-3065","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yi-Ming","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ph.D. Program in Translational Medicine, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei 112, Taiwan"},{"name":"Division of Translational Medicine, Department of Medical Research, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung 407, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Po-Hao","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Rheumatology and Immunology Center, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung 404, Taiwan"},{"name":"College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung 404, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Chia-Wei","family":"Hsieh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ph.D. Program in Translational Medicine, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan"},{"name":"Division of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung 407, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Joung-Liang","family":"Lan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Rheumatology and Immunology Center, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung 404, Taiwan"},{"name":"College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung 404, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5468-1329","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kuo-Tung","family":"Tang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ph.D. Program in Translational Medicine, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei 112, Taiwan"},{"name":"Division of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung 407, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2023","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(16)30173-8","article-title":"Rheumatoid arthritis","volume":"388","author":"Smolen","year":"2016","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"196","DOI":"10.1093\/rheumatology\/keq325","article-title":"Long-term effectiveness and safety of TNF-blocking agents in daily clinical practice: Results from the Dutch Rheumatoid Arthritis Monitoring 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