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Articles By Janet Pope, MD, MPH, FRCPC

signs treat

Why treatment of pre-RA isn't ready for prime time

The ACR Great Debate was on "To treat or not to treat in pre-RA?". What is the clinician to do?

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pill pillbox adherence

Medication adherence is a problem

Much has been written about tapering medications in rheumatic diseases, often due to high costs of medications, a desire to avoid side effects and patient preference to take less medications (especially if they have side effects). This is countered by something we all know: medications not taken don’t work, and those that are frequently missed may not provide optimal outcomes for the majority of patients.

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meeting education

Don’t be ‘ticked’: TYK2 is not a JAK!

Recently the FDA approved deucravacitinib, a highly selective TYK2 inhibitor for psoriasis. Trials are positive in psoriatic arthritis and a phase II study in SLE. What about the effects? Presentations from the ACR22 meeting may provide answers.

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CV risk factors not equal when considering magnitude of risk

What can we learn from Oral Surveillance? The Oral Surveillance trial has almost become a household word for rheumatologists.

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TYK2i

Are TYK2 inhibitors ‘ticked’ to be part of the JAK family?

Are TYK2 inhibitors JAK inhibitors? Are they effective in PsA? Are they safer than JAKi? Read on to learn more.

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Best of 2021: Perspectives on CV safety: JAKi (Tofacitinib) and TNF inhibitors

Safety comparisons of JAKi (tofacitinib) vs. TNFi from Oral Surveillance showed that, in patients with active RA on MTX and aged >50 years with one or more CV risk factors, that there was numerically more MACE events, malignancies, and VTE especially in higher dose.

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Top vasculitis takeaways from ACR 2021

There were several hot topics at ACR21. Here I concentrate on top abstracts in vasculitis. 

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Perspectives on CV safety: JAK inhibitor (Tofacitinib) and TNF inhibitors

Safety comparisons of JAKi (tofacitinib) vs. TNFi from Oral Surveillance showed that, in patients with active RA on MTX and aged >50 years with one or more CV risk factors, that there was numerically more MACE events, malignancies, and VTE especially in higher dose.

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DPGN, lupus, nephritis, GN, glomerulonephritis, biopsy, kidney

Racial/ethnic disparity in U.S. lupus nephritis mortality

At #ACR21, the plenary session included an analysis of deaths from SLE throughout the US comparing 1999 to 2019 (Abstract #0454).

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yes, no, maybe

Reader beware! Interpretation of effectiveness & safety of JAKi vs bDMARDs in real world data

Multiple studies compared effectiveness, retention and/or safety of biological DMARDs (bDMARDs) and JAK inhibitors (JAKi) at EULAR 2021.

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