Taking advantage of data from the Cardiovascular Inflammation Reduction Trial (CIRT), a randomized doubleblind, placebocontrolled trial, investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital have been able to far more accurately determine rates of adverse events for people taking methotrexate, finding smalltomoderate elevations in risks for skin cancer, gastrointestinal, infectious, lung, and blood adverse events. Results are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Dr. Solomon and his colleagues looked at data on 4,786 participants from CIRT who were randomized to receive lowdose methotrexate with folate or a placebo. Of 2,391 subjects who received methotrexate, 87 percent experienced an adverse event of interest compared to 81.5 percent of those who were randomized to placebo.

Dr. Solomon explains the results in this video.