A clinical trial of low dose methotrexate therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

The efficacy and safety of MTX in active RA were evaluated based on patient medical records. The study population consisted of 460 patients with active RA who had received no prior MTX therapy and started it at our hospital between August 1998 and December 2003 (80 men and 380 women with a mean age of 59.3 years). After 24 weeks of MTX therapy, 61.3% of patients showed a 20% improvement, and 30.4% achieved a 50% improvement according to the ACR criteria. The cumulative rate of patients who continued MTX therapy for 48 weeks was 0.567. During the observation period, 260 patients (56.5%) experienced 304 adverse reactions. 52 patients (11.3%) discontinued treatment because of adverse reactions, and 10 patients (2.2%) died. The adverse reactions that occurred in at least 1% of patients were: abnormal hepatic function (31.7%), infection (6.1%), gastrointestinal symptoms (5.0%), stomatitis (3.9%), hematological abnormalities (3.5%), fracture (3.5%), malignant tumor (2.6%), interstitial pneumonia (2.0%), cerebrovascular or cardiovascular disorder (2.0%), headache (1.7%), eruption (1.3%), and alopecia (1.1%). Adverse reactions were more common in the elderly and patients with advanced stage disease. This study reaffirms the therapeutic benefit of MTX, but suggests that careful monitoring is of great importance.