ArticleRheumatology advances in practice2024
Effectiveness of methotrexate and leflunomide as corticoid-sparing drugs in patients with polymyalgia rheumatica.
Article in Rheumatology advances in practice, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- The 2026 British Society for Rheumatology guideline for the treatment of polymyalgia rheumatica.Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2026Guideline
- Guideline
- A systematic literature review to inform the 2025 EULAR recommendations for the management of polymyalgia rheumatica and primary large vessel vasculitis: management of disease including relapse and complications.EULAR rheumatology open · 2026Review
- Experience of Australian rheumatologists managing polymyalgia rheumatica: results from a national survey.Internal medicine journal · 2026Article
- Treatment strategies in giant cell arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica: beyond glucocorticoids.Nature reviews. Rheumatology · 2026Review
- Small-Molecule Strategies for Polymyalgia Rheumatica and Giant Cell Arteritis in Older Adults.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Advances in multi-omics and therapeutic studies of Henoch-Schönlein purpura.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2025Review
- Modern Management of Isolated Polymyalgia Rheumatica.Rheumatology and therapy · 2025Review
- Norwegian society of rheumatology recommendations on diagnosis and treatment of patients with Polymyalgia Rheumatica: a narrative review.BMC rheumatology · 2024Article
- Traditional and Emerging Strategies for Managing Polymyalgia Rheumatica: Insights into New Treatments.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- Leflunomide as a therapeutic alternative to methotrexate as a glucocorticoid-sparing agent in polymyalgia rheumatica.Rheumatology advances in practice · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
29 authors at 9 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objectives: The need for glucocorticoid-sparing drugs (GCSD) remains an important issue and is an unmet need in the treatment of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). We therefore aimed to assess the effectiveness and safety of methotrexate (MTX) and of leflunomide (LEF) in daily clinical practice in PMR patients from Argentina. Methods: A multicentre and observational study (medical records review) of PMR patients seen between 2007 and 2023, who had at least three months of follow-up after starting a GCSD, either MTX or LEF, was performed. Results are expressed as medians and interquartile ranges [25th-75th (IQR)] for continuous variables and percentages for categorical ones. The two treatment groups were compared using χ Results: One-hundred and eighty-six patients (79% female) with a median age of 72 years (IQR, 65-77 years) were included. One-hundred and forty-three patients (77%) were prescribed MTX (15, IQR 10-15) and 43 (23%) LEF (20 mg, fixed dose). Flare-ups (relapses and recurrences) occurred in 13 patients (7%) and were comparable between both groups. Persistent GCSD intake was observed in 145 patients (78%). Glucocorticoid (GC) withdrawal was achieved in 67 of these 145 patients (46%) and this occurred more frequently in the LEF group ( Conclusions: This study demonstrated the clinical effectiveness of LEF and even its superiority in achieving remission when compared with MTX as GCSD in PMR patients. Further research is needed to support these findings.
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Registered trials
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.