Patients with rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis and comorbid adult-onset type 2 diabetes have a clinical profile of severe diabetes with poor glycemic control, researchers report.
Adding tocilizumab to standard care does not improve clinical outcomes for people with severe or critical COVID-19 and may increase mortality risk, according to findings from the TOCIBRAS trial published in The BMJ.
Rheumatologists and patients with rheumatoid arthritis have concerns about the safety of low-dose glucocorticoids that “greatly exceed” evidence from published data, researchers report.
Among patients with longstanding rheumatoid arthritis or psoriatic arthritis, having tenderness in non-swollen joints is not significantly associated with the presence of active inflammation as measured by power Doppler ultrasound, researchers report.
Canadian researchers have identified risk factors for poor outcomes in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus who taper or discontinue hydroxychloroquine treatment, including baseline prednisone use and age at diagnosis.
Clinical remission and normal physical function are “achievable goals” when using a treat-to-target strategy in older people with late-onset rheumatoid arthritis, but not all patients are not able to adhere to this strategy, Japanese research shows.
Bariatric surgery is associated with a significant decrease in bodyweight and serum uric acid levels among people with obesity, with particularly pronounced reductions in those with hyperuricemia and gout, researchers report.
The likelihood of patients with rheumatoid arthritis being refractory to multiple biologic DMARDs increases if they are younger, have established joint damage when starting treatment, and do not have an early clinical response to their first biologic.
Findings from two studies suggest that telemedicine is acceptable to people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases, may improve access to care for those living in resource-limited settings, and is not associated with worse disease activity outcomes.
Findings from a randomized trial show that the STEP-KOA exercise program, with intensification of the intervention for participants not meeting response criteria, may improve the symptoms of knee osteoarthritis.
Treatment-naïve people with new-onset rheumatoid arthritis who respond to treatment with methotrexate have consistent differences in their gut microbiomes relative to non-responders, study findings indicate.
Among people with rheumatoid arthritis, having more comorbidities at the time of biologic DMARD initiation is associated with an increased risk for serious infection, researchers report.
Among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus receiving treatment with hydroxychloroquine, low drug levels in the blood are associated with an elevated risk for arterial and venous thrombosis events, researchers report.
Concomitant use of oral glucocorticoids and proton pump inhibitors significantly increases the risk for osteoporotic fractures in people with rheumatoid arthritis, with the combined effect greater than that for each drug class alone, research suggests.
There was a “large rise” in the number of people being diagnosed with giant cell arteritis during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with an increase in the proportion of patients with associated visual impairment, UK researchers report.
US researchers have identified a number of novel demographic, lifestyle, and clinical risk factors for rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease, but they acknowledge that together the factors only have a moderate ability to predict development of the disease.
Adding the IL-6 receptor inhibitor tocilizumab to standard care reduces the risk for progression to mechanical ventilation or death among hospitalized patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, show findings from the EMPACTA randomized controlled trial.