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

The ARTIC-REWIND study examined rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients in remission on conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARDs) to see if they could "step-down" their csDMARDs theray; but  the study showed that 25% those who went on half-dose experienced disease fl

The predictive value of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) while on biologics is debateable; gastroenterology routinely relies on TDM, while rheumatologists do not.

Long-term outcomes of kids with childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (cSLE) are uncommon, but this cSLE cohort analysis suggests that SLE significantly impacts their future education, vocation, and employment as they reach adulthood.

Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) showed disappointing results among patients with active psoriatic arthritis, a small randomized trial found.

The Journal of the American College of Cardiology has published the results of a study showing that patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have an increased risk of heart failure (HF) and other long-term cardiovascular outcomes. 

An open source, free read from the European Journal of Internal Medicine discusses how uric acid has evolved from the toxic cause of gout and nephrolithiasis and evolved, by way of science, into a pleiotropic recidivist in the evolution of obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance, renal disease, hypertension, fatty liver, and cardiovascular disease.

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

The ACR COVID-19 Vaccine Clinical Guidance was originally published on February 8, 2021 and updated on March 4, 2021. On April 28, 2021, new recommendations were added regarding mycophenolate, methotrexate, acetaminophen, and NSAID timing considerations,  

A metanalysis showed that while adverse events (AEs) are common when methotrexate is used in rheumatoid arthritis or inflammatory arthritis patients, serious AEs ranged from 2.1 to 9.5% and drug discontinuations ranged from 6.7% to 15.5%, mostly due to gastrointestinal events. 

A large patient cohort study suggests that the mean diagnostic delay (DD) in European axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) patients is 7.4 years, moreso in women and younger patients.

A phase III trial assessing the efficacy and safety of tofacitinib in adults with with active ankylosing spondylitis (AS) shows that JAK inhibitiion was superior to placebo in a 48 week study.

A metanalysis of pregnancy outcomes in women with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis finds an excess risk of adverse maternal events, but not adverse neonatal events.

This systematic review included 16 studies meeting inclusion criteria. 

Bimekizumab (BIM) is a monoclonal antibody that targets both interleukin-17A and interleukin-17F, which as a biologic target has worked well in the management of psoriatic disease. The current issue of the NEJM has two reports wherein BIM was shown to be more effective than secukinumab and adalimumab in treating patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis; however, safety concerns arise. 

A randomized clinical trial of patients with CMC1 osteoarthritis shows modest benefits when a combination of conservative treatments (education, splinting, hand exercises, 1% diclofenac sodium gel) was used compared to education alone. While there were small to medium benefits with regard to hand function, there was no benefit in pain outcomes. 

The GO-AHEAD study was designed to assess the long-term efficacy and safety of golimumab (GLM) in non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-axSpA).  After the 16-week, placebo [PBO]-controlled double-blind phase, 189/198 (95.5%) entered the long-term extension (OLE) for 36 weeks wherein G

Each one-unit increase on a disease activity score during the first year after enrollment into a systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) cohort was associated with a significant increased risk for death and organ damage during subsequent follow-up, researchers reported.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews and discusses more than a dozen news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.

Literature review and metanalysis of many studies suggests that significant delay to diagnosis in axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) exist, are longer than other rheumatic diseases and have not changed over time.

A Danish cohort study examined the risk of methotrexate related liver disease risk in patients with psoriasis (PsO)and psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and found that compared to rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic patients had up to a 3 fold higher risk of liver disease.