Risk of infection with different immunosuppressive drugs combined with glucocorticoids for the treatment of idiopathic membranous nephropathy: A pairwise and network meta-analysis

Idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN) is a common cause of nephrotic syndrome in adults and one of the leading causes of end-stage renal disease (ESRD). During recent years, the incidence of IMN has been increasing. The main treatment option for IMN is the use of immunosuppressive (IS) drugs combined with glucocorticoids (GC). However, the infection risk with different IS drug treatments has not been systematically compared. Therefore, a network meta-analysis was performed to compare the risk of infection of different IS drug treatments for IMN. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that assessed the risk of infection in patients with IMN treated with different IS drugs combined with GC were included in the network meta-analysis. Risk ratios for dichotomous data with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated and the data were pooled with a random-effects model. The surface under the cumulative ranking area (SUCRA) was calculated to rank the risk of infection with different interventions. A total of 38 RCTs with 2066 participants were included for comparison of nine interventions. Tacrolimus combined with GC (TAC + GC) was associated with a significantly lower risk of infection than that with intravenous cyclophosphamide (IVCTX) + GC with a risk ratio (95% CI) of 0.52 (0.34–0.79). IVCTX + GC was associated with a significantly higher risk of infection than that with TAC + GC, cyclosporin (CSA) + GC, and oral cyclophosphamide (POCTX) + GC. A sensitivity analysis, excluding studies with a very long follow-up period, revealed minimal differences in the estimates. The SUCRA showed that CSA + GC had the lowest risk of infection (SUCRA 86.0%), and the second best treatment was POCTX + GC (SUCRA 78.6%). Conversely, IVCTX + GC (SUCRA 16.2%) had a higher risk of infection than that with the other IS drugs. CSA + GC and POCTX+ GC were associated with a lower risk of infection than that with other IS drugs combined with GC for IMN. Combined with comparative efficacy data, these results can help patients make informed decisions about treatment options for IMN. PROSPERO registration: CRD42018104849