Advanced therapies and risk of bloodstream infection - evidence from Danish nationwide registry-based case-control studies

PhD defence by Cæcilie Leding

Assessment Committee

Professor Christian Brandt, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen (Chairperson)
Professor Tine Jess, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University Copenhagen
Professor James Galloway, Centre for Rheumatic Diseases, King's College London

Supervisors

Clinical Professor Thomas Benfield
MD, PhD Holler Jon Gitz
Assistant Professor Alessandra Meddis

Department

Department of Clinical Medicine

Graduate Programme

Immunology and Infectious Diseases

Place

Building: Panum, Room: Einar Lundsgaard, Blegdamsvej 3B, 2200 KBH N

Email address to gain access to the thesis: caecilie.leding@regionh.dk.
You will either receive a copy of the thesis or be informed where you can read a physical copy.
Recipients of copies of the thesis are not allowed to share or distribute it due to copyright compliance.

Short description of the thesis

Biologic and targeted synthetic drugs have transformed care for people with chronic inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. These treatments target specific parts of the immune system, but infection remains an important concern. This thesis uses nationwide Danish health registries to investigate associations between these advanced treatments and bloodstream infections. Across three studies, some treatments were associated with higher infection rates, while others showed no overall increase. The findings suggest that risk varies by treatment, underlying disease, the pathogens involved and use of other immunosuppressive treatments. These findings contribute to our understanding of bloodstream infection risk during treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases and highlight the importance of continued research into treatment safety.