New Study: Stratifying risk for blood testing for people with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Inflammatory

Regular blood tests are needed to monitor the potential toxicity of methotrexate for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and azathioprine for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This study found that over half of the people with RA and IBD taking these drugs had completely normal blood results. Those who did have abnormalities were generally older people and those with other conditions like diabetes or kidney disease. It might be possible to reduce the frequency of blood tests safely for people at lower-risk of developing problems, which might be appreciated by patients and benefit health services.