Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40742006›Full record

ArticleAnnals of medicine2025

A controlled comparative study of the effects of methotrexate and pharmacogenetic factors on arterial blood pressure and arterial stiffness in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Arduino A Mangoni, Michael D Wiese, Richard J Woodman, Salvatore Sotgia, Angelo Zinellu, Ciriaco Carru, Julie-Ann Hulin, E Michael Shanahan, Sara Tommasi

Abstract readComparative StudyControlled Clinical Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Annals of medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. 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

9 authors.

Arduino A MangoniCollege of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-8699-1412
Michael D WieseCentre for Pharmaceutical Innovation, Clinical & Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-3255-9242
Richard J WoodmanCentre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-4094-1222
Salvatore SotgiaDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-3717-3437
Angelo ZinelluDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-8396-0968
Ciriaco CarruDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-6985-4907
Julie-Ann HulinCollege of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia.ORCID 0000-0003-4886-0416
E Michael ShanahanCollege of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-8309-3289
Sara TommasiCollege of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-9449-2602

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionObservational studies have shown that methotrexate, a conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (csDMARD), is associated with lower arterial blood pressure (BP) and may reduce cardiovascular risk in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, it remains unclear whether a cause-and-effect relationship exists between the use of methotrexate and blood pressure reduction. PATIENTS AND

methodsWe conducted a controlled comparative study of treatment-naïve newly diagnosed RA patients commenced on subcutaneous methotrexate (Group 1,

resultsAfter six months, compared to Group 2, Group 1 patients had significantly lower SBP (-7.4 mmHg, 95% CI -14.0 to -0.8,

conclusionsThis is the first comparative study showing that methotrexate significantly reduces SBP in RA. This effect did not coincide with significant changes in arterial stiffness or disease activity. Further research is warranted to investigate the mechanisms underpinning the SBP-lowering effects of methotrexate, the role of specific SNPs, and whether such effects may account for reduced cardiovascular risk in patients with RA.

Indexed as

Antirheumatic AgentsArterial PressureArthritis, RheumatoidBlood PressureMethotrexateVascular StiffnessAdultAgedFemaleHumansMaleMethylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (NADPH2)Middle AgedPharmacogeneticsPolymorphism, Single NucleotideSulfasalazineAntirheumatic AgentsMethotrexateMethylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (NADPH2)MTHFR protein, humanSulfasalazineatherosclerosisblood pressurecardiovascular diseasedrug repositioninginflammationMethotrexatepharmacogeneticsrheumatoid arthritis

Identifiers

PMID40742006
PMCPMC12315184

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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.