Similar short-term clinical response to high-dose versus low-dose methotrexate in monotherapy and combination therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Table 2 Unadjusted and propensity score-adjusted results of the linear mixed model analyses to investigate the effectiveness of high versus low methotrexate doses on disease activity (DAS and DAS28) and physical functioning (HAQ), stratified per medication group

	DAS β (95% CI)	DAS28 β (95% CI)	HAQ β (95% CI)
Methotrexate monotherapy (number of patients = 522, number of visits = 1090)
MTX dose group PS-adjusted	0.070 (−0.15; 0.29)	0.12 (−0.19; 0.43)	0.060 (−0.09; 0.21
MTX dose group unadjusted	−0.63 (−0.79; −0.47)	−0.90 (−0.13; −0.67)	0.16 (0.055; 0.26)
Methotrexate + csDMARDs (number of patients = 262, number of visits = 567)
MTX dose group PS-adjusted	0.051 (−0.23; 0.33)	0.024 (−0.37; 0.42)	−0.0058 (−0.20; 0.19)
MTX dose group unadjusted	−0.18 (−0.44; 0.072)	−0.28 (−0.63; 0.072)	0.092 (−0.085; 0.27)
Methotrexate + oral glucocorticoid (+/−csDMARDs) (number of patients = 615, number of visits = 1403)
MTX dose group PS-adjusted	−0.047 (−0.26; 0.16)	−0.16 (−0.44; 0.12)	−0.028 (−0.16; 0.11)
MTX dose group unadjusted	−0.42 (−0.56; 0.28)	−0.74 (−0.93; −0.55)	0.13 (0.045; 0.22)

Time is modelled in days between the baseline visit and each follow-up visit. Low dose is the reference category. MTX dose group is a binary variable with low dose ≤10 mg/week and high dose ≥15 mg/week. DAS Disease Activity Score, DAS 28 Disease Activity Score in 28 joints, HAQ Health Assessment Questionnaire, PS propensity score, 95% CI 95% confidence interval, MTX methotrexate, csDMARDs conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug