Treatment with at least some biologic drugs significantly reduced 1-year progression of early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) relative to classical small-molecule agents, researchers reported.

A phase 3 trial assessed a selective Janus kinase 1/2-inhibitor, baricitinib, in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), demonstrating it's efficacy and safety compared to placebo.

Cerebrovascular ischemic events (CIE) can be one of the most severe complications of giant cell arteritis (GCA), but is seen in 4-5% of GCA patients according to a recent French University Hospital. 

A safety analysis of six phase III SELECT trials showed that higher-risk rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients had an increased risk of MACE, malignancy (excluding NMSC) and venous thromboembolic events (VTE) regardless of being treated with either upadacitinib (UPA) or adalimumab (ADA).

NIH researchers have have described a novel autoinflammatory disorder called "Lyn kinase-associated vasculopathy and liver fibrosis" (LAVLI), based on a mutation in the LYN gene (that encodes the Lyn kinase protein). They discovered that increased Lyn kinase activity promotes systemic inflammation, by altering microvascular permeability and neutrophil recruitment, while at the same time promoting hepatic fibrosis.

Safety outcomes for targeted synthetic or biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (b/ts DMARDs) used to treat RA were studied using data from the Anti-Rheumatic Therapies in Sweden (ARTIS) registry, showing that these newer agents are largely similar, but still have particular differences for specific infection or other adverse event risks.

GRAPPA has provided new, evidence based updates to the management of enthesitis in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA), affecting at least 30% of PsA patients and is associated with more severe disease, x-ray damage, and poorer outcomes. 

A cohort study in Annals of Internal Medicine shows that higher hydroxychloroquine doses was associated with progressively greater risk for incident retinopathy. The study aimed to assess the long-term risk for incident hydroxychloroquine retinopathy and examine the degree to which average hydroxychloroquine dose within the first 5 years of treatment predicts this risk.

A prospective, pragmatic, open-label, randomized trial conducted by the UK National Health Service, studied interventions in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and found no advantage to either CTS corticosteroid injection (CSI) or night splinting (NS) as the initial treatment of CTS.

A new study suggests that use of ELISA assays for CXCL-10 and IFN-α can predict which ANA+ individuals may progress to developing a systemic autoimmune rheumatic disease (SARD).

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news, journal articles and regulatory decisions from the past week from RheumNow.com. This week focuses on parodoxical psoriasis, scleroderma outcomes and subsets, and alopecia areata therapy.

The hallmark of systemic sclerosis is scleroderma, but less than 10% of SSc patients have sine scleroderma (ssSSc). A EUSTAR database review compared the manifestations and outcomes of ssSSC to limited cutaneous SSc and diffuse cutaneous SSc.

A randomised controlled trial including 347 participants with lower back or neck pain found there was no benefit of taking opioid pain relievers compared to placebo. 

A large, retrospective, multinational study of patients with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) shows they may be at risk for cardiovascular events (CVEs).