Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33447265›Full record

ArticleTherapeutic advances in musculoskeletal disease2020

Methotrexate at middle and high accumulative doses might be associated with lower risk of new-onset cancers in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a nationwide population-based cohort study.

Wuu-Tsun Perng, Yao-Min Hung, Renin Chang, Cheng-Li Lin, Jeng-Yuan Chiou, Huang-Hsi Chen, Chia-Hung Kao, James Cheng-Chung Wei

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Therapeutic advances in musculoskeletal disease, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
0.9field-weighted citation impact, top 24% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 8 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  3. Review
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.

Wuu-Tsun PerngInstitute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
Yao-Min HungDepartment of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Municipal United Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6920-8799
Renin ChangDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Cheng-Li LinManagement Office for Health Data, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
Jeng-Yuan ChiouSchool of Health Policy and Management, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
Huang-Hsi ChenDivision of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
Chia-Hung KaoGraduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6368-3676
James Cheng-Chung WeiDivision of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1235-0679
China Medical University · TWChung Shan Medical University · TWChung Shan Medical University Hospital · TWKaohsiung Veterans General Hospital · TWNational Pingtung University of Science and Technology · TWNational Yang Ming Chiao Tung University · TW

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundWe investigated whether taking methotrexate (MTX) is associated with a lower risk of new-onset cancers in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

methodsWe conducted a 12-year retrospective cohort study from a population-based National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. A total of 21,699 patients with newly diagnosed RA were enrolled during 2000-2009. The overall cancer rate was compared between 10,352 new users of MTX and 11,347 non-users. We used the WHO Defined Daily Dose (DDD) as a tool to assess drug exposure. Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) of disease after controlling for demographics and other comorbidities.

resultsAfter adjusting for age, sex, cancer-related comorbidities, and RA-combined medication, the HR of cancer risk was 0.87 (95% CI = 0.74-1.02) for the MTX user group compared with the MTX non-user group. The cumulative incidence of cancer in the MTX non-user group was significantly higher than that of the MTX user group (log-rank test

conclusionMTX at middle and high accumulative doses might be associated with lower risk of new-onset cancers in patients with RA.

Indexed as

cancercohort studymethotrexaterheumatoid arthritis

Identifiers

PMID33447265
PMCPMC7780328
OpenAlexW3115536511

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.