Among patients with systemic rheumatic diseases, the highest incidence of opportunistic infections was seen in those with polymyositis/dermatomyositis (PM/DM), Taiwanese researchers found.

Dannish study has shown that one-third of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) will have joint surgery that that PsA patients have twice the rate of joint surgery when compared with the general population. The Danish National Patient Registry was used in this cohort study of incident PsA patients and their future risk of joint surgery compared to a general population cohort (GPC) between 1995-2012).

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.

A prospective analysis of newly diagnosed, inflammatory arthritis (IA) patients suggests that perceived distress (stress) increases the odds of incident IA.

A study of 527 patients receiving daily hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) concluded that hydroxychloroquine blood levels may predict future HCQ retinopathy.This study assessed whether lower HCQ dosing, as recommended by the 2016 American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) guidelines (less than 5 mg/kg), would favorably affect retinopathy outcomes.