Rare incidence of methotrexate-specific lesions in liver biopsy of patients with arthritis and elevated liver enzymes

Table 1 Characteristics of patients with liver biopsy and of disease control patients

	Patients with liver biopsy	Disease control patients	Pvalues
Sex (female/male)	28/13	28/13	NS
Age (years)	52.2 ± 1.9	52.4 ± 1.9	NS
Rheumatic disease	25 RA; 8 SpA; 6 pSS; 2 CTD	25 RA; 8 SpA; 6 pSS; 2 CTD	NS
Disease duration (years)	7.4 ± 1.1	10.5 ± 1.1	0.01
MTX exposure (weeks)	131.6 ± 26	277.9 ± 29.6	<0.001
MTX cumulative dose (mg)	1,287.8 ± 246.7	3,217.3 ± 368	<0.001
MTX weekly dose (mg/week)	10.9 ± 0.7	12.240 ± 0.7	NS
Shared epitope positivity	17/36	22/41	NS
Rheumatoid factor positivity	17/38	19/39	NS
Anti-CCP positivity	19/29	12/23	NS

Data for 41 patients with liver biopsy compared with 41 subjects matched for age, sex and rheumatic disease from a population of 1,571 arthritis patients on long-term methotrexate (MTX) therapy. Data presented as n or mean ± standard error of the mean. CCP, cyclic citrullinated peptide; CTD, connective tissue disease; NS, not significant; pSS, primary Sjögren syndrome; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; SpA, spondylarthropathy.

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