The AR Excellence project evaluates clinical monitoring in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Spain. The aim of the study was to analyze the use of methotrexate (MTX) in the AR Excellence cohort and to compare it with current recommendations.
We collected data from RA patients who initiated treatment with MTX. They included demographics, dose and routes of administration, switching among them, highest dose in each route, combinations with other disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), time to combination with another DMARD (either conventional or biological) and adverse events.
Six hundred twenty-five patients with RA (mean age 55 years; 70.6% women) were included, with an average disease duration of 21 months. Ninety percent of the patients initiated treatment with MTX. Therapy was begun with a mean dose of 11mg per week; this initial dose was increased in 58% of the individuals. The average time to reach the full dose of MTX (20mg a week) was 6,67 months. Time to combination of MTX with another DMARD, either synthetic or biological, was 3 months. In all, 67.4% of the patients received oral MTX and the route was subcutaneous in 18.6%. In 12% of the cases, there was a change in the route of administration after a period of 6 months. In 544 patients, folate supplements were added to MTX; MTX-related adverse events were detected in 17.3% of the patients.
MTX is currently the pivotal treatment in RA. The subanalysis of the AR Excellence project demonstrates that MTX escalation to its full doses is not done with adequate speed. The subcutaneous route is used in a small proportion of patients.