RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Methotrexate for rheumatoid arthritis
JF Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin
JO Drug Ther Bull
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP 17
OP 19
DO 10.1136/dtb.1995.33317
VO 33
IS 3
YR 1995
UL http://dtb.bmj.com/content/33/3/17.abstract
AB Relevant BNF section: 10.1.3Treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) conventionally starts with an analgesic plus a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). Slow-acting antirheumatic drugs are being added at an increasingly early stage of the disease.1 When we reviewed slow-acting antirheumatics two years ago1 methotrexate had only recently been licensed in the UK for the treatment of RA. In the USA methotrexate is often preferred to traditional slow-acting antirheumatics such as gold, sulphasalazine and penicillamine. We examine the evidence.