Nonsteroidal peptic damage in rheumatoid patients receiving second-line drugs

Using endoscopy, we assessed the prevalence of peptic ulceration in 281 rheumatoid patients receiving nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs alone, or in combination with second-line agents. Ulcers were found in 33 of 96 patients who took nonsteroidals only (33/96, 34%), compared with 8/33 (24%) on hydroxychloroquine, 10/30 (33%) on penicillamine, 13/46 (28%) on sulphasalazine, but only 11/76 (14%) on intramuscular gold plus nonsteroidals (chi 2 = 7.95, 0.001 less than p less than 0.01, p less than 0.05 using Bonferroni correction). Second-line drugs do not seem to increase the prevalence of ulcers related to nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs; on the contrary, fewer ulcers were found in patients receiving gold therapy, and this might have therapeutic implications.