Rheumatoid Arthritis

A comparison of monotherapy biologic or targeted synthetic DMARDs initiated in naive patients show each are beneficial for rheumatoid arthritis.

A maternal rheumatoid arthritis (RA) diagnosis before delivery was linked to an increased risk of offspring with autism spectrum disorder, particularly for those with seronegative RA.

The use of traditional Chinese medicine had a statistically significant association with improved clinical indicators in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Patients with “good health literacy” had significantly lower disease activity over time than those with “several health literacy limitations,” adjusting for age, gender and education level.

GPX3, an antioxidant enzyme and reactive oxygen species scavenger, was categorized as a hub gene in rheumatoid arthritis neutrophils.

Women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in remission exhibited higher values of Disease Activity Score-28 for Rheumatoid Arthritis with erythrocyte sedimentation rate (DAS28-ESR) compared with men.

At month 6, 71.0% in the smart system of disease management group achieved a DAS28-CRP of 3.2 or less compared with 64.5% in the control group.

In a multivariate logistic regression analysis, the HAQ score was significantly associated with both anxiety and depression, indicating worse functional status and higher disease activity.

Compared with other bDMARDs, patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with tofacitinib had a 4-fold reduced incidence of interstitial lung disease.

An analysis of perimenopausal women with rheumatoid arthritis indicated that patients receiving exogenous sex hormones more frequently achieved SDAI- and CDAI-defined remission.

Disease activity and burden were higher in patients with rheumatoid arthritis with Medicaid or Medicare coverage, African American patients, and those residing in Southern regions.

The approval was based on positive results from the Phase 3 SAPHYR trial, which showed that nearly 3 times more patients achieved sustained remission with sarilumab when compared with placebo.

“Reversing and preventing adverse lifestyle factors could potentially reduce the incidence and burden of rheumatoid arthritis, as well as alleviate its comorbidities,” investigators hypothesized.

Katinka Albrecht, MD, and Johanna Callhoff, MSc, discuss the results of their recent study evaluating patients with rheumatoid arthritis and concomitant interstitial lung disease.

The January 2023 rheumatology month in review highlights a recent study that indicated an increased risk of hospitalization and death among patients with gout and COVID-19, the expansion of research evaluating adalimumab biosimilars, and trends in fibromyalgia.

Although no incidence trends were observed in a German cohort, the data indicate patients with ILD-RA have received more biological/targeted synthetic DMARDs in recent years.

A total of 608 patients from an early RA cohort that had baseline radiographs of hands and feet, as well as at 1, 2, 5, and 8 years, were included in the long-term study.

DMARDs are the most commonly used treatment for patients with rheumatoid arthritis but have been linked with pneumonia and other pulmonary infections.

A meta-analysis with data from more than 30 published articles provides an overview of associations between calprotectin levels and disease activity, treatment response, and inflammation among patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

"Changes in the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) seem to be associated with changes in objectively assessed strength and physical function, suggesting HAQ captures the patient impact of sarcopenia-related disability,” investigators noted.

The association was generally consistent across the subgroups of age, sex, use of systemic corticosteroids, and comorbidity levels in the population-based cohort.

Recent phase 3 clinical trial data explains response patterns of rheumatoid arthritis patients to baracitinib.

The use of cannabis was associated with more severe levels of pain, as well as more severe disease activity.

A study of health care professionals' opinions of the ease of use and utility of the SmartClic/ClicWise autoinjector provides insight into the use of the device for patients with rheumatic conditions.

General practitioners and rheumatologists were viewed as sources of information that led to positive views toward vaccinations, while internet chatrooms, social media, and mainstream media were seen as sources of information that led to negative views.

The syndrome, although rare, has a high mortality rate, with approximately half of patients dying within 5 years of diagnosis.

“Disease-related malnutrition is strongly associated with morbidity, disability, short- and long-term mortality, and impaired disease recovery," investigators explained.

P38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) inhibitors have been a focal point for inflammatory diseases but the lack of efficacy in treating rheumatoid arthritis led to examination of the MK2 pathway.

New survey data from Europe show how factors of the pandemics impacted long-term rheumatoid arthritis management.

Factors including age and disease activity influenced the selection of JAK inhibitors over biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs for RA patients beginning therapy.