Steroids

PsA Til Death Do Us Part (1.20.2023)

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Dr. Jack Cush reviews the highlights from the past week on RheumNow.com.

2022 Rheumatology Year in Review

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2022 was a year of recovery, discovery, and some losses.  While still dealing with the aftermath of COVID-19, rheumatologists were resilient as leaders for their patients and research in advancing rheumatologic care.

In Giant Cell Arteritis, Hospital Admission Is Bad News

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One-third of patients admitted with giant cell arteritis (GCA) were rehospitalized within 6 months, largely because of complications potentially related to corticosteroid therapy, researchers found in a retrospective cohort study.

Among the cohort of 1,206 patients hospitalized with

Best of 2022: Approach to ILD in Myositis Syndromes

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Mehta et al have published a full read review of managing interstitial lung disease (ILD) in patients with inflammatory myopathies, a heterogeneous group of syndromes connected by ILD and and increased morbidity and mortality risk.

2022 ACR/EULAR Giant Cell Arteritis Classification Criteria

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Giant cell arteritis (GCA) has historically been a clinical diagnosis (visual loss, headache, jaw pain, scalp tenderness, etc) supported by labs and histopathology. Yet the diagnosis and classification of GCA has evolved, so much so that the ACR and EULAR have updated the 1990 Classification

RECITAL Trial: RTX vs. CTX in CTD-ILD

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A UK study suggests the equivalent outcomes when patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) associated with connective tissue disease (CTD) are treated with either intravenous rituximab (RTX) or cyclophosphamide (CTX), but with fewer adverse events with RTX. 

Steroid injections worsen knee arthritis

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Two studies comparing injections commonly used to relieve the pain of knee osteoarthritis found that corticosteroid injections were associated with the progression of the disease. Results of both studies were presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (

Steroids in RA: Friend or foe (or both)?

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While have come so far from the days of our patients living on massive doses of steroids, we still have many patients who use steroids for our diseases, with increasing data for toxicity, even in low dose. As someone much smarter than me described them, steroids are our best frenemy.

ACR Best Abstracts - Day 2

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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:

Do biologics help taper steroids in Adult Still’s Disease?

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A Japanese large scale claims data study was able to collect 5-year data to study the treatment patterns in Still’s. In May 2019, intravenous tocilizumab was approved in Japan for Still’s disease. The study was designed to see patterns of steroid exposure before and after the approval of this

Polymyalgia rheumatica: more than just steroids at ACR22

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After decades of having little else proven apart from glucocorticosteroids with which to treat polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR), evidence for steroid-sparing options has grown in recent years, and this crescendo is set to continue at ACR Convergence 2022 in Philadelphia, PA.

SLE T2T - Lupus Low Disease Activity State Predicts Outcomes

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Treat-to-target management of SLE has been shown to protect against organ damage and to improve quality of life. Now a prospective study shows that T2T with a goal of lupus low disease activity state and remission has been shown to improve mortality risk.

Infection: a Leading Cause of Death in Lupus

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 Analysis of a national database of hospital discharges from Spain shows that infections accounted for 25% of lupus deaths, making infection the most common cause of death in SLE.

Study identified SLE patients from the Spanish Hospital Discharge Database and recorded the frequency of