Highlights from Tuesday and Wednesday (days 3 and 4) from the ACR annual meeting include: the important and impactful abstracts covered by the Rheumatology Roundup session; upadacitinib clinical trials; and the baricitinib CV and VTE safety analysis.

Arthritis Care & Research reports that juvenile arthritis (JA) patients may have a higher risk if coronary artery disease (CAD) in adulthood.  Data was drawn from the National Health and Nutrition Examination (2007‐2014).  The diagnoses of JA and CAD were self declared by respondents.

Dr. Jack Cush delivers select commentary on select news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.

The National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society's (NRAS) annual audit has identified significant treatment delays for patients with suspected early inflammatory arthritis could result in unnecessary harm. 

Intra-articular sprifermin given to patients with symptomatic and radiographic knee osteoarthritis has been shown to significantly improve total femorotibial joint cartilage thickness after 2 years, but without significant clinical benefits. Which begs the question, why is there a disconnect between radiographic disease modification (cartilage thickness) and symptomatic improvement?