title: Infections in patients taking Rituximab for hematologic malignancies: two-year cohort study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Rituximab (R) is a chimeric human-murine anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody used to treat B-cell lymphomas. Despite R remarkable activity against malignant cells, there are concerns that R may facilitate the occurrence of infections. This study is aimed to define risk factors for infections, and the potential interaction with time since therapy, in patients undergoing R containing regimens.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study has been designed as a multiple failure events historical cohort including all patients who received a R contain regimen at London Royal Free Hospital between May 2007 and April 2009.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One-hundred-eighty-one infections occurred among the 113 enrolled patients (overall incidence rate 3.30 per 1000 person-days). Multivariate analysis showed that lymphocyte counts at nadir, graft versus host disease, HIV sero-status and the type of malignancy were all independently associated with the risk of infection. In addition the analysis of the interaction with the time since the start of therapy provided evidence that different risk factors may increase risk of infections in different times.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides preliminary data to describe the association between several patients' baseline characteristics and infections during therapy with R.
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases, INMI-Lazzaro Spallanzani, Via Portuense, 292, 00149, Rome, Italy. simone.lanini@inmi.it
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lanini
authors.forename: Aoife C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Molloy
authors.forename: Archibald G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Prentice
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ippolito
authors.forename: Christopher C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Kibbler
mesh_terms: D058846:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000139:chemically induced*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D019337:Hematologic Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D000069283:Rituximab; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced*
chemical_list: D058846:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D000069283:Rituximab