Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases

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Long COVID is a diagnostic label currently given to those suffering from a poorly understood state of incomplete recovery or who have development of a myriad of medically unexplained symptoms occurring in the wake of infection with SARS CoV-2 that is both poorly understood and controversial. Many of the features of one of the most common clinical endotypes of Long COVID are shared by a condition well familiar to all rheumatologists and one with a large body of epidemiologic, clinical and basic research accrued over many decades namely the syndrome of fibromyalgia...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

OBJECTIVES: To study long-term (up to 20-year) mortality of two treat-to-target trial cohorts in undifferentiated arthritis (UA) and early rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: The BeSt (BehandelStrategieën) study (n=508, early RA) was performed between 2000 and 2012. For 10 years, patients were treated-to-target disease activity score (DAS)≤2.4.The Induction therapy with Methotrexate and Prednisone in Rheumatoid Or Very Early arthritic Disease (IMPROVED) study (n=610, early RA/UA) was performed between 2007 and 2015...

OBJECTIVE: Genome-wide association studies have successfully identified more than 100 loci associated with susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, our understanding of the functional effects of genetic variants in causing RA and their effects on disease severity and response to treatment remains limited. METHODS: In this study, we conducted expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analysis to dissect the link between genetic variants and gene expression comparing the disease tissue against blood using RNA-Sequencing of synovial biopsies (n=85) and blood samples (n=51) from treatment-naïve patients with RA from the Pathobiology of Early Arthritis Cohort...

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of avacopan in the subgroup of patients with antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis receiving background induction therapy with rituximab in the phase 3 ADVOCATE trial. METHODS: Key efficacy outcomes were remission at week 26 and sustained remission at week 52. Additional outcomes included the Glucocorticoid Toxicity Index, estimated glomerular filtration rate, urinary albumin to creatinine ratio, health-related quality of life and safety...

OBJECTIVES: The Murphy Roths Large (MRL)/MpJ 'superhealer' mouse strain is protected from post-traumatic osteoarthritis (OA), although no studies have evaluated the microbiome in the context of this protection. This study characterised microbiome differences between MRL and wild-type mice, evaluated microbiome transplantation and OA and investigated microbiome-associated immunophenotypes. METHODS: Cecal material from mixed sex C57BL6/J (B6) or female MRL/MpJ (MRL) was transplanted into B6 and MRL mice, then OA was induced by disruption of the medial meniscus surgery (DMM)...

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to identify the types and heterogeneity of cells within the spinal enthesis and investigate the underlying mechanisms of osteogenesis. METHODS: Single-cell RNA sequencing was used to identify cell populations and their gene signatures in the spinal enthesis of five patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and three healthy individuals. The transcriptomes of 40 065 single cells were profiled and divided into 7 clusters: neutrophils, monocytic cells, granulomonocytic progenitor_erythroblasts, T cells, B cells, plasma cells and stromal cells...

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OBJECTIVES: Glucocorticoids used in the treatment of inflammatory rheumatic conditions can impact on health-related quality of life. An underpinning qualitative study developed a long-list of candidate items for a treatment-specific patient-reported outcome (PRO) measure. The objective of this paper is to determine scale structure and psychometric properties of the Steroid PRO. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of adults from the UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand, taking glucocorticoids for a rheumatic disease...

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OBJECTIVES: This study aims to evaluate non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) risk associated with abatacept treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: This evaluation included 16 abatacept RA clinical trials and 6 observational studies. NMSC incidence rates (IRs)/1000 patient-years (p-y) of exposure were compared between patients treated with abatacept versus placebo, conventional synthetic (cs) disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and other biological/targeted synthetic (b/ts)DMARDs...

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of remibrutinib in patients with moderate-to-severe Sjögren's syndrome (SjS) in a phase 2 randomised, double-blind trial (NCT04035668; LOUiSSE (LOU064 in Sjögren's Syndrome) study). METHODS: Eligible patients fulfilling 2016 American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) criteria for SjS, positive for anti-Ro/Sjögren's syndrome-related antigen A antibodies, with moderate-to-severe disease activity (EULAR Sjögren's Syndrome Disease Activity Index (ESSDAI) (based on weighted score) ≥ 5, EULAR Sjögren's Syndrome Patient Reported Index (ESSPRI) ≥ 5) received remibrutinib (100 mg) either one or two times a day, or placebo for the 24-week study treatment period...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to determine the clinical significance of subclinical giant cell arteritis (GCA) in polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and ascertain its optimal treatment approach. METHODS: Patients with PMR who fulfilled the 2012 European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology/American College of Rheumatology Provisional Classification Criteria for PMR, did not have GCA symptoms and were routinely followed up for 2 years and were stratified into two groups, according to their ultrasound results: isolated PMR and PMR with subclinical GCA...

Fundamental insight gained over the last decades led to the discovery of cytokines as pivotal drivers of inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis/psoriasis arthritis, inflammatory bowel diseases, atopic dermatitis and spondylarthritis. A deeper understanding of the pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory effects of various cytokines has prompted new cytokine-targeting therapies, which revolutionised the treatment options in the last years for patients with inflammatory disorders. Disease-associated immune responses typically involve a complex interplay of multiple cytokines...

Long COVID is the name given to a syndrome comprising a wide variety of symptoms persisting more than 3 months after acute benign COVID-19, with a prevalence ranging from 10 to 80%. Symptoms are very close to fibromyalgia. Several studies showed that long COVID prevalence was much higher after the first wave of the pandemics and was associated to the fact of thinking having had COVID rather than having had really COVID. Thus, it was the stress of the first wave with the lockdown and not the consequences of the infection that probably induced this high frequency of long COVID...