Vasculitis & polymyalgia rheumatica
Efficacy and tolerance of methotrexate in a real-life monocentric cohort of patients with giant cell arteritis
Authors' conclusion
Our real-life study showed a modest beneficial effect of MTX on relapse in patients with GCA. However, we did not observe any GC-sparing effect in this study.
Study context
- Population
- Patients with giant cell arteritis (GCA) receiving methotrexate (MTX) in a real-life setting, from a monocentric database of >500 GCA patientsmedian follow-up 84 [10–255] months
- Participants
- 49 patients
- Outcome
- Relapse during and after MTX treatment
Methodological detailsmonocentric, real-life
- Monocentric
- Real-life
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Relapsed during MTX treatment
25
51%
Relapsed after MTX discontinuation
18 of 41
44%
New relapse after MTX introduction among 40 patients who relapsed before MTX
26
65%
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Glucocorticoid (GC) discontinuation once MTX introduced
- Patients able to discontinue GC
- 24 (49%)
- Time to GC discontinuation, months
- 20.5 [7-64]
Cumulative GC doses before vs after MTX introduction
- Total GC dose, grams
- 14.7 [1.05-69.4]
- No significant difference before and after MTX introduction
MTX discontinuation at last follow-up
- MTX discontinued
- 41
- Due to clinicobiological remission
- 13 (32%)
- Due to treatment failure
- 12 (30%)
Safety
MTX discontinuation due to side effects · last follow-up
- Discontinued due to side effects
- 15 (36%)
Original publication
Efficacy and tolerance of methotrexate in a real-life monocentric cohort of patients with giant cell arteritis. Semin Arthritis Rheum. Published 20 March 2023. doi:10.
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