All News
Low Risk of COVID-19 Pneumonia in Rheumatic Patients
A current letter in the Annals of Rheumatic Disease details the rheumatic disease patient cohort outcomes from the University of Siena, Italy showing only 2 cases of COVID-19 among 859 patients treated with tsDMARDs and bDMARDs.
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Again, Antimalarial Use Fails to Benefit COVID
Today Lancet reported the results of another retrospective trial showing that hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine, alone or with a macrolide antibioitic, offered no additional benefits to COVID-19 patients, but was associated with higher rates of mortality and arrhythmia.
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Outcomes of Critically-Ill COVID Patients in NYC
Lancet has reported COVID outcomes from NewYork-Presbyterian hospitals in NYC during March 2020 showing high rates of hospitalization, ICU admission, mechanical ventilation and death.
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No Certain Link between Biologics and Melanoma Risk
A review of available data fails to show an increased risk of melanoma in IMID (inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriasis) patients treated with systemic biologic therapies.
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Anti-TNF and CNS Events: The Link Strengthens
Patients with autoimmune diseases who were treated with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors had an increased risk of developing inflammatory central nervous system (CNS) adverse events, a nested case-control study found.
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TNR - COVID-Rheumatology Registry & COVID in OZ
This week's Tuesday Nite Rheumatology features presentations and interviews with Drs. Peter Nash and Philip Robinson. Dr. Robinson presents latest data on the Rheum-Covid.org Registry, that he helped establish under the Global Rheumatology Alliance. Dr. Nash presents the impact of COVID in Australia and pragmatic COVID management.
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Systemic Sclerosis Future Therapies and Outcome Measures
Nagaraja, Khanna and colleagues have published an overview of current and future therapies in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and have reviewed the potential outcome measures for this difficult autoimmune disorder.
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The Nine Lives of Hydroxychloroquine (Updated)
Hydroxychloroquine is one of many medications frequently used in rheumatology practice. Its remarkable versatility is attested by its routine use in lupus, in patients with an autoimmune coagulopathy, in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, as well as in those with a low-level inflammatory arthropathy.
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RheumNow Podcast - COVID Kids and Men (5.15.20)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.
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CDC on Pediatric Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome
The latest hazardous spinoff to the coronavirus infection is an inflammatory, Kawasaki-like syndrome unique to children or adolescents with COVID-19. Sporadic reports from around the globe of this severe pediatric COVID syndrome have littered the news with brief mentions and little detail.
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Kids' COVID-Linked Ailment Is Not Your Typical Kawasaki Disease
As data continue to emerge about a multi-system inflammatory disorder in children apparently connected to COVID-19, evidence is growing that this is not your typical Kawasaki disease.
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Plaquenil Does Not Protect Lupus Patients from COVID-19
Annals of Rheumatic Disease reports on an analysis of lupus (SLE) patients that shows COVID-19 infection rates were similar between those lupus patients who were taking hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and those not taking HCQ.
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TNR Grand Rounds - What does COVID-19 have to do with Lupus?
Last night's Tuesday Nite Rheumatology featured Dr. Joan Merrill (OMRF). In her lecture, "What does COVID-19 have to do with lupus?", she discusses the pathogenesis of lupus, and specifically thrombotic microangiopathy, complementopathies, catastrophic lupus syndrome and the potential overlap with the vascular pathology seen with COVID-19 infection.
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New ACR Guidelines for Gout Management
The ACR has published the 2020 guidelines on the management of gout that includes strong recommendations favoring treat‐to‐target management and starting urate lowering therapy (ULT) for patients with frequent flares, radiographic damage or tophi due to gout.
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Secukinumab Better than Adalimumab - Maybe?
The EXCEED study was a head-to-head trial of secukinumab (SEC) versus adalimumab (ADA) as first-line monotherapy in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients; this 52 week trial showed that while SEC failed to achieve clinical superiority over ADA, SEC treated patients demonstrated higher
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Physical Activity Prevents Hospitalization
Modifiable lifestyle choices can impact long term health. A recent study shows that usual and increased physical activity can results in less hospitalization amongst the the general population.
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TNR Grand Rounds: IL-6 in Health and Disease
Dr. Len Calabrese from the Cleveland Clinic delivers this week's Tuesday Nite Rheumatology Grand Rounds, entitled "IL-6 in Health and Disease: Where Rheumatology Meets COVID-19".
Dr. Calabrese provides a comprehensive review of IL-6 biology, and discusses IL-6 signaling, IL-6 roles in health, exercise, infection, innate and adaptive immunity as pertains to both rheumatology and the management of coronavirus infection.
Hydroxychloroquine's World of Confusion - What you Need to Know
Hydroxychloroquine has been a dominant news item since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, with a great deal of misconceptions by those who don't know or use or take the drug. HCQ leaped to the headlines on March 19th when President Trump endorsed the drug as being “approved” by FDA. Of course at that time, it was still only approved for SLE, RA and malaria and it wasn't until 2 weeks later (March 31st) that the FDA issued an "emergency use authorization" allowing the use of either chloroquine or HCQ for treatment of severe, hospitalized patients with COVID-19.
To provide clarity and evidence - here are some of the facts you need to know.
Biologic Dose Cuts Feasible in RA
Many patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who achieved remission or low disease activity on biologic treatment were able to reduce the dose of their biologic, particularly if they were also on methotrexate, a retrospective study found.
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Lenabasum Encouraging in Systemic Sclerosis
The oral cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2) agonist lenabasum showed promising results for systemic sclerosis (SSc) in a phase II study.
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