All News

woman-1284353_640.jpg

Comparing EULAR (2025) and ACR (2020) Guidelines on Safety of Lupus Medications in Pregnancy

Catherine Sims, MD

Attendees at the 2025 RheumaPreg meeting were excited to discuss the newly released EULAR recommendations for use of antirheumatic drugs in reproduction, pregnancy, and lactation. Table 1 summarizes the major recommendations from EULAR (2025) and the American College of Rheumatology (2020) reproductive guidelines for commonly used medications in SLE. It should be noted that these two sets of guidelines largely align, however, the updated EULAR guidelines have included some additional medications incorporating data from the last five years.

Read Article
RheumNow Podcast square

Vitamin D Headlines (5.9.2025)

Jack Cush, MD

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news, journal reports and lupus highlights from the past week on RheumNow.com. Triple positivity, the gut and CRPS, and hope for better outcomes with Vitamin D therapy. 

Read Article
RheumNow Podcast square

Keys to Mastery (5.2.2025)

Jack Cush, MD

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news, articles and drug approvals from the past week on RheumNow.com. This podcast marks the beginning of our Lupus Campaign called "Lupus Unlocked: Keys to Mastery". This month's campaign on Lupus is sponsored by Aurinia.

Read Article
variety of contraception methods

Contraception in SLE

Lisa Sammaritano MD

Pregnancy in SLE gets a lot of press in the rheumatology literature, and deservedly so, since pregnancy risks can be markedly increased. It was not that many years ago that women with SLE were counseled to avoid pregnancy.

Read Article
pregnancy.sperm_.jpg

EULAR Guidelines on Reproductive Health

MedPage Today

Rheumatology patients considering or actually having babies can safely take most of the medications currently used to treat their conditions, according to an updated guideline from the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR).

Read Article
RheumNow Podcast square

Rheumatology: Believe It or Not (4/25/2025)

Jack Cush, MD

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com. Should we believe the reviews and metanalyses?

Read Article
Certolizumab effective in preventing adverse pregnancy outcomes in high-risk antiphospholipid syndrome. CZP given to 51 APS pts wks 8 to 28. 9 w/ primary APO (17.6%) (6 w/ pregnancy loss <10 wks) - significantly lower than historical controls. Median delivery 36.5 wks. Neonatal https://t.co/KfOOM7sEAt
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Stable SLE - Should you Withdraw Immunosuppressant or Glucocorticoids? An open-label, single-centre, randomized controlled trial tested whether immunosuppressant (IS) withdrawal is noninferior to glucocorticoid (GC) withdrawal in SLE patients and found that IS withdrawal is https://t.co/T8Fu83GScH
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Very low & very high vitamin D (25/OH) levels assoc w/ adverse pregnancy outcomes - miscarriage (P = 0.0045) & preterm delivery (P = 0.0007). APO were lowest w/ 25(OH)D levels of 40 to 59 ng/mL. Monitor vit D and Rx during SLE pregnancies https://t.co/Z9jEgETqId https://t.co/fJRqD3v7UF

Links:

Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Contraception in SLE Pregnancy in SLE receives significant attention in rheumatology due to increased risks. Historically, women with SLE were advised against pregnancy. As of 2004, the maternal mortality rate was 20 times higher than the general population. Although recent https://t.co/89df0TKtF5
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
EULAR Guidelines on Reproductive Health Rheumatology patients considering or actually having babies can safely take most of the medications currently used to treat their conditions, according to an updated guideline from the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology https://t.co/121I7Yb8Ki
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Norwegian RevNatus Pregnancy study on 417 births in 350 women w/ axSpA: 86% (347) were breastfeeding @6wks, 70% @6mos, & 38% @12 mos. Non-breastfeeders more likely to have C-section (41 vs 20%), higher ASDAS-CRP (2.6 vs 2.2), CRP (5.3 vs 3.3), & VAS pain (41 vs 32) https://t.co/DI6owL5dof
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Norwegian RevNatus Pregnancy study on 417 births in 350 women w/ axSpA: 86% (347) were breastfeeding @6wks, 70% @6mos, & 38% @12 mos. Non-breastfeeders more likely to have C-section (41 vs 20%), higher ASDAS-CRP (2.6 vs 2.2), CRP (5.3 vs 3.3), & VAS pain (41 vs 32) https://t.co/GhLtLqT0iS
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Vitamin D for Prevention of Disease JAMA has published a clinical guideline on the use of vitamin D to prevent disease in children and adults. Guideline committee experts, included adult and pediatric endocrinology, internal medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, nutrition, and https://t.co/zi3CpE0DVN
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
A review of 18 guideline recommendations on DMARDs in pregnancy & reproductive health. There were recs. DMARDs & pre-conception (56%), lactation (67%), male fertility (33%), & use of csDMARDs (72%), bDMARDs(72%), tsDMARDs (28%); less recs for b/tsDMARD use https://t.co/tKGCXrbOuc
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
If you see women with inflammatory arthritis who are pregnant or planning a pregnancy, the MAMA Study may be recruiting at an obstetric unit near you. To find out what is happening, visit @TheMAMAStudy, https://t.co/N8B5MpTsRx, or email mama@npeu.ox.ac.uk. @NPEU_CTU @NPEU_Oxford https://t.co/lQdgUiZ0Cb

Links:

BSR RheumatologyUK ( View Tweet)
Should Lupus Nephritis Receive PJP Prophylaxis? A current review article suggests that the need for Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP) prophylaxis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and lupus nephritis will need to be individualized based on therapies and https://t.co/QGHxk3O8q4
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Systematic review of >90 studies on Pregnancy and RA risk indicates that parity, gravidity, infertility, pregnancy loss do not adversely affect RA development. But low birthweight was assoc w/ RA Dx/severity, and pre-eclampsia incr risk of subsequent RA Dx. https://t.co/nw8FfWyM8A
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Systematic review of >90 studies on Pregnancy and RA risk indicates that parity, gravidity, infertility, pregnancy loss do not adversely affect RA development. But low birthweight was assoc w/ RA Dx/severity, and pre-eclampsia incr risk of subsequent RA Dx. https://t.co/jVa4tmSqvj
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Pregnancy-Related Deaths in the US A CDC cross-sectional national study showed an increase in pregnancy-related deaths in the US from 2018 to 2022, with highest rates among American Indian, Alaska Native women, and non-Hispanic Black women. https://t.co/H1s649GyiL https://t.co/MXnrQrAcrT

Links:

Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
How well do you know this week's rheumatology news?
Take the rheumIQ quiz
Take the RheumIQ Quiz

×