The prevalence of atherosclerotic vascular events among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) today is considerably lower than in the past, analysis of multicenter data found. Among patients enrolled in an inception cohort from 1999 to 2017, only 3.6% of patients had an atherosclerotic vascular event, at a rate of 4.6 per 1,000 patient-years, according to Murray B. Urowitz, MD, of the University of Toronto in Canada, and colleagues.

For patients with gout exacerbations while on pegloticase (Krystexxa), adding methotrexate may help reduce uric acid levels, researchers suggested at the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) virtual meeting. In a small open-label study of 14 patients experiencing acute gout attacks, use of the pegloticase/methotrexate combination reduced uric acid levels to near undetectable levels in 11 patients, reported John Botson, MD, medical

In no particular order, these are my top 5 presentations from this year's EULAR 2020 meeting. Congratulations to EULAR for pulling off the educational coup of the year by transforming their world class gigantic Frankfurt meeting into a worldwide virtual meeting in less than 8 weeks – KUDOS!

In this week's podcast, Drs. Artie Kavanaugh and Jack Cush present highlights from the virtual EULAR2020 meeting held June 3-6, 2020. Featured reports include the SELECT-CHOICE study, the EXCEED trial, Avacopan in AAV, BeST mortality outcomes, BLISS-LN study, biosimilars and tofa in systemic sclerosis.

These were my top abstracts from Thursday, 4th of June at EULAR 2020:

These were my top abstracts from Thursday, 4th of June at EULAR 2020:

For a disease that has been recognized since the days of Hippocrates, we are finally making some progress towards understanding systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and how to tame the wolf.  Listed below are the top 5 studies and their summaries presented at the recent EULAR e-Congress conference streamed from Germany that I found impactful:

Flares in ANCA-associated vasculitis are difficult to predict, but serum calprotectin may help predict relapse and renal failure, according to data presented at the EULAR 2020 virtual meeting this week.

These were my top abstracts from Thursday, 4th of June at EULAR 2020.

Every time a big scientific meeting ends I ask myself a question: how is it going to affect the way I treat my patients? This year the question pertains to management of axial spondyloarthropathies and psoriatic arthritis. Actually, this question has been brewing for several years now, but only now we get more data to form more or less feasible answer. So let’s see what EULAR 2020 has to offer.

Here is my top-five from day one at EULAR:

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

In difficult times, it's reassuring to reflect on the similarities that bring us together. In the case of the EULAR and ACR COVID19 guidelines as discussed at #EULAR2020 by Drs. Mikuls and Landewe, the recommendations from both panels proved to be reassuring with a hint of "we are flying blindly into the unknown."

A Lancet systematic review and meta-analysis provides the basis for physical distancing and the value of making as measures to prevent infection with coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) or COVID-19. The analysis included 172 observational studies, no randomised controlled trials and 44 relevant comparative studies involving 25 697 patients. 

NEJM has reported that the use of hydroxychloroquine did not prevent symptomatic COVID-19 infection when used within 4 days after SARS-CoV-2 exposure. Currently for persons who are COVID exposed, the standard of care is quarantine and there is no known preventative therapy.