Cardiovascular safety of biologic therapies in patients with severe asthma: a nationwide cohort study in Belgium.

BACKGROUND

In last decades, biologic therapies have been approved for severe allergic and/or eosinophilic asthma. Limited studies have investigated the effect of biologics on (acute) cardiovascular events, which have reported conflicting results. We aimed to investigate the potential cardiovascular risk of anti-immunoglobulin(Ig)-E (omalizumab) and anti-interleukin(IL)-5/IL5 receptor (IL5R) therapies (mepolizumab and benralizumab) in patients with severe asthma compared with non-biologic users.

METHODS

Adult asthma patients eligible for biologics were identified in Belgian nationwide data between 2017 and 2022. Inverse probability of treatment weighted Cox regression was used to investigate cardiovascular outcomes and all-cause mortality, while controlling for age, sex, obesity, smoking, comorbidities, comedication, exacerbations, and frailty.

FINDINGS: This cohort study consisted of 171,865 patients (mean age 64 years; 55% females) including 1826 (1.1%) anti-IgE users and 2398 (1.4%) anti-IL5/IL5R users. Anti-IgE exposure was associated with a significantly lower risk of mortality (aHR 0.48, 95% CI 0.40-0.58), congestive heart failure (aHR 0.79, 95% CI 0.65-0.95), peripheral artery disease (aHR 0.66, 95% CI 0.51-0.86), and stroke (aHR 0.54, 95% CI 0.36-0.81). Anti-IL5/IL5R use was associated with a significantly lower risk of mortality (aHR 0.35, 95% CI 0.29-0.42), congestive heart failure (aHR 0.63, 95% CI 0.52-0.76), arrythmia (aHR 0.78, 95% CI 0.68-0.90), and peripheral artery disease (aHR 0.69, 95% CI 0.54-0.87) compared with non-biologic users. No significant differences in the risk of myocardial infarction and pulmonary embolism were observed.

INTERPRETATION: In this nationwide observational study, biologic therapies for patients with severe asthma were associated with a significantly lower risk of all-cause mortality and specific cardiovascular diseases compared with non-biologic users.

FUNDING: None.