Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) improves metabolic and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but its efficacy appears to be moderate as compared to placebo. The aim of our study was to assess the current literature on the clinical and structural efficacy of HCQ in the joints of patients with RA.
We systematically searched MEDLINE (via PubMed), Embase, Cochrane Library, and the American College of Rheumatology and European League Against Rheumatism annual scientific meeting abstracts for studies available up to November 2017 comparing the efficacy of HCQ in patients with RA, in monotherapy or combined with other conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARDs). Data were extracted by 1 investigator and independently checked by a different investigator.
The literature search revealed 197 articles and abstracts of potential interest, and 11 studies fulfilled inclusion criteria. The clinical and structural efficacy of HCQ was similar to or lower than that for methotrexate or sulfasalazine in monotherapy. HCQ combined with other DMARDs could increase the clinical efficacy.
In addition to its metabolic benefit, combining HCQ with other DMARDs could provide some clinical improvement in patients with RA and inadequate response to previous csDMARDs.