Methotrexate Not Associated with Interstitial Lung Disease Save
A case-controlled study shows that methotrexate (MTX) use in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is not associated with interstitial lung disease (ILD) according to a report in the European Respiratory Journal.
Researchers examined the associatioin by comparing 410 RA patients with chronic fibrotic ILD (RA-ILD) and 673 patients with RA without ILD.
They found an inverse relationship between MTX exposure and RA-ILD (adjusted OR 0.43; 95% CI 0.26–0.69; p=0.0006).
MTX ever users were less frequent among patients with RA-ILD, possibly suggesting a protective effect from more aggressive management. Moreover, in MTX users ILD detection was significantly delayed in MTX ever users compared to never users (11.4±10.4 years and 4.0±7.4 years, respectively; p<0.001).
They concluded that MTX use is not associated with an increased risk of RA-ILD in patients with RA, and that ILD was detected later in MTX treated patients.
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