In the United Kingdom, NICE has looked to the British Society of Rheumatology (BSR) to develop evidence based guidance on the safe use of biologic DMARDs in patients with inflammatory arthritis.

A multinational cross-sectional cohort study suggests that smoking cessation in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients is associated with lower disease activity measures, improved lipid profiles and lower rates of cardiovascular (CV) events.

A disease you’ve never heard of is becoming increasingly common and carries a very poor prognosis. 

The ACR Plenary Sessions featured some of the best research presented on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday in Atlanta. Here are my seven notable highlights from the Plenaries.

Dr. Jack Cush presents his favorite abstracts and presentations from Rheumatology Round Up and ACR 2019.

A Spanish prospective cohort of active, uncontrolled gout patients were followed and showed that failure to reach a target serum uric acid (sUA) level of 6 mg/dl (0.36 mmol/L) or less was associated with a 2-3 fold increase in mortality.

The European Medicines Agency safety committee (PRAC) has concluded that Xeljanz (tofacitinib - TOFA) could increase the risk of blood clots in the lungs and in deep veins in patients who are already at high risk for venous thromboembolic events. The PRAC is recommending that TOFA should be used with caution in patients at high risk of blood clots (VTE), regardless of dose used.

Yesterday, AbbVie reported the top-line study results showing the efficacy of Rinvoq (upadacitinib - UPAD) adult patients with active psoriatic arthritis who previously had an inadequate response to a biologic DMARD.

Rheumatology has a comprehensive overview of methotrexate (MTX) and the risk of lung injury, MTX-related pneumonitis and interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD) with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Past reports suggest the frequence of MTX-pneumonitis to be between 0.3 and 11.6%; recent studies suggest it may be much lower.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have a large comorbidity burden at the time of diagnosis, including a wide range of ailments but with pulmonary disease a particular concern, a U.K. population-based study found.

Comorbidities are common in patients with axial spondyloarthropathy (axSpA), and a recent study has shown that multimorbidity, the coexistence of 2 or more conditions, is associated with more severe disease than those without comorbidities.

A 3 year, multicenter, European, study shows that rivaroxaban was inferior to warfarin in preventing thrombosis in patients with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) according to the Annals of Internal Medicine. Thus despite the inconvenience of warfarin, it remains the best option for patients with APS.

Arthritis Care & Research reports that juvenile arthritis (JA) patients may have a higher risk if coronary artery disease (CAD) in adulthood. 

Patients diagnosed with interstitial pneumonia with autoimmune features (IPAF) are at an increased risk of developing a systemic autoimmune rheumatic disease (ARD).

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the News and Journal Reports from this week on RheumNow.com.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.

A Canadian administrative claims analysis has shown that gout-associated inflammation increases the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and pulmonary embolism (PE) before and after the diagnosis of gout.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.

Continuous use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) among patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) was associated with the development of incident hypertension, a prospective cohort study found.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.