Study: Methotrexate Prolongs Lives of Many Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

The lead therapy used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, methotrexate, may prolong the lives of many of those who use it by decreasing the risk of death from heart disease, according to researchers at Harvard Medical School and University of Kansas School of Medicine.

In a prospective study of methotrexate, researchers followed 1,240 rheumatoid arthritis patients from 1981 to 1999. At their doctor's discretion, 588 received methotrexate.

The researchers, reporting in The Lancet, found a 60 percent higher survival rate among those who had taken the drug. Additionally, patients who took methotrexate were 70 percent less likely to die from heart disease.

"Our data indicate that methotrexate may provide a substantial survival benefit, largely by reducing cardiovascular mortality," said Hyon Choi, Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health. "This gain in life expectancy could be considered in selecting a cost-effective, disease-modifying antirheumatic drug on a long-term basis

"Additionally, the survival benefit of methotrexate would set a standard against which new disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs should be compared," he added.

Other sources: The Lancet