In a study of patients with methotrexate-refractory rheumatoid arthritis, the addition of sulfasalazine and hydroxychloroquine to methotrexate (triple therapy; n = 171) resulted in a lower persistence rate (defined as treatment without a ≥90-day gap in therapy) than the addition of a TNF inhibitor (n = 2,125). Over a 12 month period, 45% of patients in the TNF inhibitor group persisted with treatment, compared with 18% of patients in the triple therapy group. Treatment discontinuation was most often because of sulfasalazine-related adverse drug events.
References
Original article
Erhardt, D. P. et al. Low persistence rates in rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with triple therapy are attributed to adverse drug events associated with sulfasalazine. Arthritis Care Res. https://doi.org/10.1002/acr.23759 (2018)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
McHugh, J. DMARD-related adverse events lower persistence. Nat Rev Rheumatol 14, 622 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41584-018-0107-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41584-018-0107-4
