Interstitial lung disease in rheumatoid arthritis: Current concepts in pathogenesis, diagnosis and therapeutics

Table 3 Pharmacological agents implicated in the development of interstitial lung disease in rheumatoid arthritis patients

Pharmacological agent	Relevant information
DMARDs
MTX	Long-term frequency of MTX-induced ILD is 0.43%[35]
	Incidence is 3.78/1000 patients[56]
	Risk factor for ILD in RA patients (RR = 7.81)[33]
LFN	Increases the risk of developing ILD[46]
	Mortality of 19% in patients with LFN-induced ILD[47]
AZA	Complication of interstitial pneumonia after treatment with AZA[52]
TNF-α inhibitors	Mortality is 32% in patients with ILD treated with TNF-α inhibitors[57]
Etanercept	Incidence of etanercept-induced ILD is 0.6%[73]
Infliximab	Incidence of infliximab-induced ILD is 0.5%[74]

DMARDs: Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs; MTX: Methotrexate; ILD: Interstitial lung disease; RA: Rheumatoid arthritis; RR: Relative risk; LFN: Leflunomide; AZA: Azathioprine; TNF-α: Tumor necrosis factor-α.