Improved Fatigue Management in Primary Sjögren's Syndrome: A Retrospective Analysis of the Efficacy of Methotrexate in Chinese Patients

Abstract

Objective: To assess the efficacy of methotrexate (MTX) and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in improving fatigue symptoms in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS).

Methods: A single-center retrospective study was conducted on pSS patients experiencing fatigue symptoms. All patients received either MTX, HCQ, or a combination of MTX + HCQ for a period of six months. Clinical efficacy was measured using the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Sjögren's Syndrome Disease Activity Index (ESSDAI), EULAR Sjögren's Syndrome Patient Reported Index (ESSPRI), Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue (FACIT-F), fatigue severity scale (FSS), and visual analog scale (VAS) score. These measures were assessed at baseline and at 1, 2, 3, and 6 months.

Results: A total of 86 pSS patients with fatigue symptoms were enrolled (27 received MTX, 29 received HCQ, and 30 received MTX + HCQ). Patients receiving MTX and MTX + HCQ showed significant improvements at 6^th month in ESSDAI, ESSPRI, FSS, FACIT-F, and VAS scores (all P < 0.01) compared with baseline. Repeated-measures analysis of variance revealed that patients treated with MTX and MTX + HCQ experienced significant improvements in ESSDAI, FSS, FACIT-F, and VAS scores (all P < 0.01) from baseline to the 6^th month. The HCQ group did not show significant improvement in FSS, FACIT-F, and VAS scores (all P > 0.05), although their ESSDAI and ESSPRI scores did improve significantly (all P < 0.01). Patients in the MTX group showed the most improvement in mean changes of ESSDAI score, FSS score, FACIT-F score, and VAS score from baseline to the 6^th month. And patients received MTX treatment significantly had more fatigue remission numbers (all P < 0.05).

Conclusion: In clinical practice, methotrexate is more effective than hydroxychloroquine in improving fatigue symptoms, as measured by patient-reported fatigue scales (FSS, FACIT-F, and VAS scores) in patients with pSS.

Keywords: fatigue; hydroxychloroquine; methotrexate; primary Sjögren’s syndrome.