People with rheumatoid arthritis who stick to methotrexate therapy live for longer, new study claims

People with rheumatoid arthritis who continued therapy with methotrexate had lower death rates when measured 18 years after treatment started, says research published in Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology.
Scientists looked at data from 250 people (78.4% women) with rheumatoid arthritis (for an average of 8.5 years at the start of the study) who had started methotrexate treatment between 1980 and 1987.
One year after treatment with methotrexate began, 66% had responded, 20% were non-responders, and 14% had stopped methotrexate because of lack of efficacy or side effects. Ten years after treatment began, 61% were still taking methotrexate.
And 18 years after the treatment began, those still taking methotrexate had a 1.6 mortality ratio compared with a 3.2 ratio among non-responders.
“The results of this study are consistent with the assumption that continued methotrexate use in patients with severe rheumatoid arthritis is associated with a decline in mortality rates,” the researchers concluded. “This effect seems to be partly independent of the clinical methotrexate response. This finding may have an impact on treatment decisions concerning rheumatoid arthritis patients with a minor response to methotrexate treatment, favoring add-on therapy over switching to other [disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs].”
To read the original research click here.