For people living with psoriatic arthritis (PsA), the comfort of a good night's sleep may feel out of reach for many.

Inhibition of B-cell Activating Factor (BAFF) has revolutionised the treatment of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. However, outcomes of therapies within the same class (i.e. BAFF-inhibitor) when evaluated in randomised controlled trials have been inconsistent.

The last day was jammed with important reports and research including the late breaking abstracts.   

Curcumin, the active constituent of turmeric extract, has increasingly been promoted as a potential rheumatoid arthritis therapy, but data presented at ACR22 suggests that even in ideal situations, it is unable to do any better than placebo in replacing conventional RA therapies.

One of the enduring legacies of ACR 2022 for me will be the emphasis on polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). Despite being highly inflammatory and relatively common, a remarkable paucity of trials have been run in this space. Read on for a quick PMR-roundup from the meeting! 

Strategies to identify patients with suspected inflammatory back pain in the general population is critical for timely and proper diagnosis.

For lupus, sedentary lifestyle may be a driving force of disease activity.  Today, the final day of ACR, Sarah Patterson, MD from UCSF will present oral abstract #2225 entitled “Physical Inactivity is Associated with Increased Expressi

Day two at ACR 2022 was full of great sessions on imaging, vasculitis, lupus, vasculitis, spondyloarthritis, COVID, pregnancy, microbiome, economics and more. Here are the RheumNow faculty selections for #ACRbest abstracts today:

An interesting study presented at ACR22 looked at whether neural networks can distinguish seropositive rheumatoid arthritis (RA+), seronegative RA (RA-), and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) using hand MRI data based on the structural inflammation patterns.

Much has been written about tapering medications in rheumatic diseases, often due to high costs of medications, a desire to avoid side effects and patient preference to take less medications (especially if they have side effects). This is countered by something we all know: medications not taken don’t work, and those that are frequently missed may not provide optimal outcomes for the majority of patients.

While COVID vaccination and subsequent booster remain the cornerstone, pre-exposure prophylaxis such as Evusheld (tixagevimab and cilgavimab) has been approved by FDA in December 2021 and EMA in March 2022 for people immunocompromised either due to a medical condition or receiving treatment with immunosuppressants and may not mount an adequate immune response to COVID vaccination. How does this therapy fare in RMD patients?

Is there finally something new on the horizon in Sjogren’s syndrome? 

The masses have returned to ACR22, a live, face-to-face, and virtual, meeting that began Saturday in Philadelphia. There were hassles and glitches, yet the education and sessions were as you’d expect with many good presentations worth recapping.

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

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).