News
Taking AI Out of AutoImmunity: Predicting disease before it develops
the predictive value of a positive ANA test—especially in the absence of other clinical symptoms—remains a challenge. A positive test often leads to further testing, yet it does not necessarily indicate whether a patient truly has an underlying autoimmune disease. The development of AI and machine learning algorithms presents an opportunity to interpret autoantibody tests and predict autoimmune diseases. Here are three studies looking at this issue.
ACR 2024: What Exactly do JAKs and TYKs Do?
Let me start by confessing something embarrassing: the immune system is just too complex for me to understand. I suspect the onslaught of new drugs with new mechanisms at ACR 2024 may have left many of you feeling similarly. This may be particularly true for the TYK/JAK/STAT signaling pathway, where each agent has a slightly-different combination of binding affinity to various JAK and TYK signaling dimers. In this article I want to share some diagrams from ACR 2024 that may help.
Addressing CV Risk in RA: Are we doing enough?
ORAL surveillance was a post-authorisation safety study of tofacitinib 5mg and 10mg versus TNF inhibitors, focusing on rates of adverse events, including MACE. A higher incidence of MACE was observed with the use of tofacitinib. Statins are recommended in patients with a history of atherosclerotic disease or 10 year predicted risk of MACE. But, how many patients with rheumatoid arthritis, at risk of MACE, are actually taking a statin?
#ACR 2024 BEST Abstracts from Day 2
Here’s a collection of some of the best abstracts presented on day 2 of ACR 2024 as selected by the RheumNow faculty.
ACR 2024 - Day 2 Report
Plenary sessions began the day, followed by thousands on the abstract floor. Here are a few of my favorite presentations from day 2 at ACR 2024.
Shedding Weight and Pain: The Promise of Anti-Obesity Medications in RA
With the advent of FDA-approved anti-obesity medications such as semaglutide and tirzepatide, a new avenue for managing this challenging patient population has emerged. But how might these drugs impact the trajectory of RA, and are we on the cusp of a paradigm shift?
JAKi in inflammatory myositis?
Abstract 1731 is a small RCT of baricitinib in inflammatory myositis comparing early start baricitinib to later start.
Where there’s smoke, there’s flare: how pollution fuels RA
Associations between air pollution and disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis have previously been demonstrated. Abstract 0978 sought to determine the association between fire smoke and other pollutant exposures with the risk of RA and RA-associated interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD).
Say Goodbye to Methotrexate in PMR?
For decades, glucocorticoids (GCs) have formed the backbone of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) management.
Health Literacy: the forgotten social determinant of health?
Nine out of ten adults in the USA struggle to understand basic health-related information. Across the pond, in the UK, 7.1 million adults read at, or below, the level of a nine-year-old, with 60% unable to understand health information. An increasing body of research in rheumatic diseases has sought to understand the impact of health literacy, long neglected as a social determinant of health, on clinical and non-clinical outcomes. Several abstracts at this year’s ACR Convergence focus on this topic.
