Articles By Bella Mehta, MBBS, MS
IgG4 disease- the WInS withdrawal study results
IgG4-related disease describes a group of fibroinflammatory diseases whose features may include autoimmune pancreatitis, swelling of or within an organ system, salivary gland disease, swollen lymph nodes, skin manifestations, and symptoms consistent with allergies or asthma. While remission induction treatment with glucocorticoids has proven effective, the high relapse tendency is an ongoing challenge for clinicians.
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New Biomarkers and Therapeutics Show Potential in Still's Disease
Adult-onset Still’s disease (AOSD) is a rare complex, sporadic, systemic autoinflammatory disease similar to systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA) characterized by sustained fever, salmon-colored rash, and arthritis.
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Maintain Vigilance for CV Risk Postpartum in Autoimmune Diseases
Pregnant women with autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARDs) and antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) face significantly increased risks of cardiovascular events (CVEs). This increased risk is often attributed to ARDs, its medications or comorbidities associated with it.
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EULAR 2023 recommendation for imaging in large vessel vasculitis
Diagnosis of large vessel vasculitis can be challenging, and imaging modalities help with not only the diagnosis but sometimes in assessing flares in the disease. At EULAR 2023, recommendations for imaging modalities for large vessel vasculitis were discussed. These were evidence-based recommendations adapted for practicality in clinical use.
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Unmasking Lupus Pregnancy: Adherence and Drug Monitoring Dilemmas
Risk of poor pregnancy outcomes in lupus patients continues to remain high, especially in the setting of high disease activity. Preliminary data from a lupus pregnancy LEGACY cohort presented at EULAR 2023 raise concern.
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AOSD: Young vs. Elderly Onset
Adult onset still's disease (AOSD) is an autoinflammatory condition characterized by fevers, arthritis, and rash. It is considered an orphan disease because of its low prevalence - it is reported anywhere between 16 to 40 per ten million.
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SLE: Variability in Racial Disparities in Pregnancy Outcomes
Significant disparities exist in pregnancy outcomes in women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), with previous cohorts identifying Black women as having a higher risk of maternal mortality compared to White women with SLE.
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Methotrexate + pegloticase increases response rates in gout
In abstract 0001 presented at ACR22 Convergence, researchers presented 12-month data from a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial of pegloticase with or without MTX.
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Do biologics help taper steroids in Adult Still’s Disease?
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 therapy.
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AOSD: complicated disease or a disease with complications?
Many clinicians may not have seen a case of AOSD during training, which overall leads to several delays in referrals and appropriate diagnosis for AOSD patients. AOSD is an autoinflammatory disease where innate immunity plays a primary role and is characterized by seemingly unprovoked inflammation, but without the high-titer autoantibodies or antigen specific T cells seen in autoimmune diseases.
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