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Combinations of disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) are increasingly being used in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) when long term results with sequential DMARD monotherapy are disappointing. Combination DMARD therapy may be more effective than monotherapy, and has no additional short term adverse events. The evidence for using combination DMARD therapy is still weak, however, and further trials are needed.

We describe an audit of 158 patients with RA treated with weekly methotrexate and 5 mg of folic acid 24 h later. Our aim was to assess the safety and efficacy of this regime in our hands compared with published clinical trials of methotrexate in RA, and to examine patient outcomes. Treatment improved ESR, but only 69% of patients continuing therapy for prolonged periods believed their arthritis to be better on treatment. Health Assessment Questionnaire and Hospital Anxiety and Depression questionnaire scores in prospectively studied patients were not significantly altered by treatment. Toxicity occurred frequently (59% in those continuing and 89% in those ceasing therapy) and cessation of therapy solely due to lack of efficacy was rare. The probability of patients continuing with methotrexate and folic acid after 1, 2, 3 and 4 yr was 87, 76, 74 and 74%, respectively, figures that are at the upper end of the reported range for methotrexate alone.