News

Dr. Gregg Silverman said identification of Ruminococcus gnavus could allow earlier diagnosis of lupus nephritis.

Findings suggest 5-10 mg of tanezumab significantly improve pain versus placebo in patients with chronic low back pain.

Eli Lilly announced this week that Taltz (ixekizumab) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of active non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-axSpA). And, this week during the EULAR annual meeting, the company is reporting results from the 52-week SPIRIT phase 3b/4 trial for psoriatic arthritis comparing ixekizumab to adalimumab.

The results highlight a significant improvement in rheumatoid arthritis signs and symptoms for those who used upadacitinib over placebo and adalimumab.

Rheumatic disease patients treated with anti-TNF therapy and who contracted COVID-19, were hospitalized less often than patients treated with glucocorticoids, shows an observational study presented on Wednesday at the European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR) annual meeting-which is being held virtually this week from the homes of more than 18,000 registered attendees.

In a study presented at EULAR, investigators find 14-3-3η baseline levels did not correlate with baseline mTSS.

In both DISCOVER trials, investigators find guselkumab effective against active psoriatic arthritis domains.

The treatment has already proven to reduce oral ulcers associated with Behcet’s syndrome.

Patients are unaffected by the switch from ADL-EU to ADL-PF.

Medical director of Horizon Therapeutics discusses changes in rheumatology practices as a result of the ongoing pandemic.

Researchers writing in Arthritis and Rheumatology report that high levels of anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (anti-CCP2) appear to be markers for future cardiovascular events in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

Glucocorticoids are the most frequently used class of drugs for rheumatoid arthritis because they are effective at relieving symptoms, and widely available at low cost. While this drug class has clear benefits for rheumatoid arthritis, it comes at a price in terms of a wide array of potential side-effects. Test your knowledge on the use of corticosteroids in rheumatoid arthritis with this quiz.

The sBLA indication is the fifth for the IL17A inhibitor, which showed reduction of inflammatory signs and symptoms in treated patients at 52 weeks.

A new analysis of data from Northwestern Medicine found some chronic inflammatory diseases were associated with a 7-fold increase in risk of heart failure.

In this week's news roundup from Rheumatology Network we continue our series on gout. Last week we featured a discussion with Dr. John D. Fitzgerald focusing on ACR's new gout treatment guidelines and this week, we talk with Dr. Christopher Parker, chief of rheumatology at Austin Diagnostic Clinic in Texas. Dr. Parker addresses mythbusters and patient engagement.

Rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes may be closely related, according to researchers writing in the June issue of Arthritis and Rheumatology.

Researchers are reporting in the June issue of Arthritis and Rheumatology that antinuclear antibodies (ANA), the most common biomarker of autoimmune disease, is more common than what we may have realized.

A new study shows that biomechanical footwear improved osteoarthritis knee pain at 24 weeks as compared to patients in a control group who wore traditional footwear. The results, although statistically significant, need to be replicated to prove clinical importance, researchers reported in JAMA.

Pregnant women who took fluconazole orally had a higher risk of giving birth to a baby with muscle and bone malformation, shows a new study published in The BMJ.

Patients with rheumatic disease should be encouraged to undertake appropriate exercise programs to combat the physical inactivity imposed by self-isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this week's news roundup, we highlight two studies that examine risks associated with biologics used to treat rheumatic disease. We also highlight the 2020 treatment guidelines for gout issued this week by the American College of Rheumatology. In today's video, we feature an interview with John D. Fitzgerald, M.D., Ph.D., chief of rheumatology at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica. Dr. Fitzgerald served as the corresponding author of the guidelines.

Taking oral fluconazole in the first trimester is not associated with oral clefts or conotruncal malformations.

Physicians from New York University Langone Health report in the New England Journal of Medicine that the baseline use of biologics was not associated with worse outcomes in a group of 14 patients with autoimmune disease who contracted COVID-19.

Researchers writing in JAMA Dermatology this week report that patients with inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriasis who are treated with biologics may have a "clinically meaningful" increase in melanoma risk, but the jury is still out.

There is no significant association between biologic exposure and the development of melanoma in patients with IBD, rheumatoid arthritis, or psoriasis.

According to a global study carried out at the Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit (MRC LEU, University of Southampton.) in collaboration with the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) and the International Society for Clinical Densitometry (ISCD), the quality of bone density scanning centers is highly inconsistent and needs to be improved.

In this interview with Dr. Kamalan Jeevaratnam, a cardiac electrophysiologist with the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Surrey, we explore whether bisphosphonates are associated with atrial fibrillation. “There are a group of studies that show bisphosphonates are proarrhythmic and a group that show they do not cause any problem,” he said in this interview with Rheumatology Network from his home in London.

The American College of Rheumatology has issued new treatment guidelines for gout strongly supporting a treat-to-target strategy for urate lowing therapy with a serum urate target of less than 6 mg/dl.

In this week's Rheumatology Network news roundup, we highlight an interview we conducted with Brian LaMoreaux, M.D., M.S., a medical director at Horizon Therapeutics and a volunteer clinical rheumatologist with CommunityHealth in Chicago. In this interview, he shares his experience as a rheumatologist in a community where healthcare is not always easy to come by.

Data collected by doctors in Italy when the country was hit by COVID-19 should allow rheumatologists to feel more comfortable in advising patients with chronic arthritis to continue taking immunosuppressive targeted therapies. The data show that chronic arthritis patients treated with DMARDs do not seem to be at increased risk of respiratory or life-threatening complications from SARS-CoV-2.