Effect of Pitavastatin in Patients with Active Rheumatoid Arthritis Treated at a Tertiary Care Hospital

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic inflammatory disorder, autoimmune in nature that predominatelyaffects synovial joints. Being a crippling disease is a leading cause of disability that often reduces the quality of life and impairspatients ability to work.Aims and Objectives: The aim of the study was to compare the effect of different treatment regimens on patients with activeRA treated at a tertiary care hospital.Materials and Methods: This was a prospective, open labeled, parallel arm, randomized, and single-center study performed ina tertiary care teaching hospital (Chennai Medical College Hospital and Research Centre [SRM Groups], Irungalur, Tiruchirapalli)and was conducted at outpatient clinics. Total duration of the study period was 24 weeks. All the patients were having activeRA and were on oral methotrexate (first-line disease-modifying antirheumatic drug) at the time of recruitment.Statistical Analysis: All the data were initially entered into Microsoft Excel 2010 and later these spreadsheets were used foranalysis. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 20.0.Conclusion: Combination therapy of pitavastatin and methotrexate is better than methotrexate monotherapy and combinationtherapy of rosuvastatin and methotrexate.