Subcutaneous Eethetrexate More Effective With Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

Main Category: Arthritis
Article Date: 27 Feb 2004 - 0:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

According to a new study, patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) respond well to subcutaneous methotrexate.

It is common to treat arthritis children orally with methotrexate. However, the authors of the study say that its bioavailability does not usually increase with doses of 20mg per square metre (meter) per week.

In this study, 31 of 61 patients with JIA were changed from oral to subcutaneous methotraxate. You can read about it in the Journal of Rheumatology:
http://www.jrheum.com.

The patients who had switched to subcutaneous administration of methotraxate experienced significant improvements in physician global assessment of disease activity, number of joints with limited range of movement, early morning stiffness, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate.

Nine patients had experienced nausea with the oral administration of methotraxate. They were switched to subcutaneous administration. Their nausea disappeared completely. Another two children, who switched for the same reason (nausea) had less severe problems with the nausea.

The authors said'The majority of children with JIA who are inadequately responsive to oral methotrexate will improve significantly without increased toxicity after switching to subcutaneous methotrexate.'