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It is increasingly becoming accepted that inflammation may play an important role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), as several immune-related genes have been associated with AD. Among these is tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, a proinflammatory cytokine known to play an important role in autoimmune disorders, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Although AD and RA appear to involve similar pathological mechanisms through the production of TNF-α, the relationship between AD and RA remains unknown.

To determine the relative risk of AD among RA patients and non-RA patients, and whether anti-TNF therapy for RA was associated with a lower risk of AD in RA patients.

We performed a nested case-control study of more than 8.5 million commercially insured adults …