One can, therefore, conclude that respiratory events may occur in a large fraction of patients treated for rheumatoid arthritis, but the increment in respiratory events associated with methotrexate above comparator therapy is modest, ~10% and mostly due to infectious events. (posted 9/26/14).
Faizah P. Siddique, MD, is a postdoctoral rheumatology fellow at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va.
George Moxley, MD, is associate professor of internal medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va.
References
1. Conway R, Low C, Coughlan RJ, et al. Methotrexate and lung disease in rheumatoid arthritis: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2014 Apr;66(4):803–812.
2. Rojas-Serrano J, Mateos-Toledo H, Mejía M. Methotrexate and lung disease in rheumatoid arthritis. A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials: Comment on the article of Conway et al. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2014 Sep;66(9):2641–2642.
3. Salliot C, Van der Heijde D. Long-term safety of methotrexate monotherapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: A systematic literature research. Ann Rheum Dis. 2009 Jul;68(7):1100–1104.
4. Lopez-Olivo MA, Siddhanamatha HR, Shea B, et al. Methotrexate for treating rheumatoid arthritis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014 Jun 10;6:CD000957.
