Interstitial lung disease (ILD) remains a leading cause of mortality in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Estimates of involvement of ILD in RA remain relatively imprecise (estimated prevalence 5-20%), though this partly reflects the wide spectrum of ILD and differing ascertainment.

The ability to prevent RA in individuals at risk is a holy grail in rheumatology. There is a long history dating back to the PROMPT trial of methotrexate and PRAIRIE trial of rituximab. Both otrials showed an effect, but it seemed more likely to be a delaying of RA than prevention or modulation. Framing it another way, there were better outcomes in pre-RA because we were actually treating RA as it emerged with a proven effective treatment. It is in this setting that three trials of ongoing studies in RA preventative therapy are presented at ACR.

The RheumNow faculty reporters have been scouring the meeting and online presentations to find the best abstracts from ACR22. Here are some of their choice abstracts reported today on day 1 of ACR 2022 (#ACRbest).

Rheumatoid arthritis is known to be associated with a higher risk of infections. In abstract 0535, Porter and colleagues have assessed infection rates in the pre-RA and early RA phases as defined by antibiotics prescription and hospital admissions with an infection main diagnostic code in the UK National database.