Rheumatoid Arthritis

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.

Vibeke Strand, MD, MACR, FACP, shares the advantages and limitations of the AIMS and comparative cohort studies in the treatment of RA.

An expert rheumatologist discusses the Accelerate Information of Molecular Signatures (AIMS) study and the comparative cohort study of the MSRC test.

Vibeke Strand, MD, MACR, FACP, reviews the tools available to clinicians to improve treatment selection in RA, focusing on the molecular signature response classifier test.

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.

Dr Vibeke Strand highlights the use of tumor necrosis factor inhibitors in the treatment of RA.

Vibeke Strand, MD, MACR, FACP, provides an overview of treatment options for rheumatoid arthritis.

“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.

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.

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.

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