Rheumatoid Arthritis

Jeffrey Curtis, MD, discusses how the Vectra test can be a useful tool for rheumatologists at ACR 2019.

An analysis of more than 7000 patients presented at ACR 2019 found there was no significant differences in safety or efficacy of biologic DMARDs based on the age of RA onset.

ACR Annual Meeting:  A large proportion of patients with rheumatoid arthritis achieved remission with either active conventional therapy or with one of three different biologic therapies, certolizumab, abatacept and tocilizumab, after 24 weeks of treatment, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology in Atlanta on November 12.

ACR Annual Meeting:  Methotrexate should be continued in most patients with active rheumatoid arthritis when biologic or targeted synthetic therapy is initiated, EU researchers reported in a poster presentation on November 12 at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology in Atlanta.

ACR Annual Meeting:  The anti-IL-6 agent olokizumab was safe and effective when added to methotrexate in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in a phase three randomized controlled trial, researchers reported on November 12 at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting in Atlanta.

ACR Annual Meeting: Patients with early rheumatoid arthritis and serological biomarkers of a poor prognosis who initiated treatment with abatacept plus methotrexate, sustained remission across all arms of a 48-week dose de-escalation trial, though the full combination produced the best maintenance, researchers reported November 12 at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting in Atlanta.

A new study presented at ACR 2019 is debunking the notion that use of ultrasound to guide treatment in early rheumatoid arthritis provides added benefit over conventional treatment strategies.

More than 50 percent of early inflammatory arthritis patients wait too long for physician referrals and specialist appointments, according to the latest figures released from the British Society for Rheumatology’s National Early Inflammatory Arthritis Audit.

Exposure to industrial emissions of fine particles matter and sulfur dioxide are associated with the presence of anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA), a characteristic biomarker for rheumatoid arthritis, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology in Atlanta on November 12.

Adalimumab (Humira, AbbVie) exposure in pregnancy is not associated with an increased risk for major and minor structural birth defects, spontaneous abortion, pre and post-natal growth deficiency, serious or opportunistic infections and malignancies, say researchers writing in PLOS ONE this month.

Opioid use among patients with rheumatoid arthritis is prevalent, and while there is a small decrease in overall opioid use after tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitor initiation, newly initiated opioid use after TNF inhibitor initiation may reflect an unmet need in pain management, say researchers writing in Rheumatology and Therapy this month.

IL-1 inhibition with anakinra was more effective than TNFi treatment for improving glycemic and inflammatory parameters in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and type 2 diabetes, say researchers writing in PLOS Medicine last month.

In this week's Rheumatology Network news roundup, we highlight advances in rheumatology research featured in recent issues of the New England Journal of Medicince, the journal Rheumatology and others. Among the most interesting findings was a study that highlights a link between antibiotic use and rheumatoid arthritis. Learn more in this slidesshow.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis have a large comorbidity burden at the time of diagnosis, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and interstitial lung disease, but COPD is a particular concern, say researchers writing in Rheumatology this month.

Exposure to antibiotics increases the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, say researchers writing in the journal Rheumatology this month.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may be saddled with other health conditions ranging from mild allergies to cancer. Several studies have noted the increased incidence of mortality due to cardiovascular disease and infections. In this quiz, we focus on comorbidities associated with RA. 

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes saw greater improvement in blood glucose levels with sarilumab than adalimumab or placebo, shows a study spresented at Clinical Congress of Rheumatology West held in San Diego last month.

Long-term remission in rheumatoid arthritis is rare, but achieving rheumatoid arthritis remission even once can improve function and quality of life, researchers report.

In the September issue of The Lancet Rheumatology, Drs. Janet Pope and Peter C. Taylor review three historical game changers in rheumatoid arthritis treatment. 

Parenteral methotrexate therapy is more successful than oral methotrexate in achieving optimal disease activity control in rheumatoid arthritis, with no increased adverse effects, say researchers writing in PLoS One this month.

Fluorescence optical imaging, which enables visualization of inflammation in the hands in rheumatic joint diseases, correlates with ultrasound as a validated and well-established imaging technique in daily rheumatological practice, say researchers writing in Arthritis Research & Therapy this month.

A study presented at CCR West found that tocilizumab displayed better biologic persistence compared with other biologics in patients with rheumatoid arthritis who previously received 1 or more other biologics.

Sheetal Desai, MD, AWARE investigator and assistant clinical professor of medicine at UC Irvine, discusses full 52-week results of study comparing 2 popular rheumatoid arthritis patients and what the observed safety profile means from a patient-centered perspective.

Aaron Broadwell, MD, rheumatologist and AWARE investigator, discusses his interpretation of the full 52-week results of the trial, which examined golimumab and infliximab in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in a real-world setting.

A post hoc analysis presented at CCR West found sarilumab outperformed adalimumab and placebo in HbA1c improvement in rheumatoid arthritis patients with diabetes.