Rheumatology

OBJECTIVES: To identify and prioritise the top 10 research questions for psoriatic arthritis (PsA). METHODS: The British Psoriatic Arthritis Consortium (BritPACT) formed a Priority Setting Partnership (PSP) comprising of people living with PsA, carers and clinicians, supported by the James Lind Alliance (JLA). This PSP followed the established three-stage JLA process:First, an online survey of people living with PsA, carers, and clinicians to identify PsA questions, asking, "What do you think are the most important unanswered questions in psoriatic arthritis research?"...

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect of either a booster vaccine (one dose) or revaccination (two doses three weeks apart) on the antibody response to the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines in patients with rheumatic disease (RD) treated with Rituximab (RTX), who had not produced vaccine-reactive antibodies after the initial two vaccine doses. Further, to examine if B cell levels in peripheral blood predicted seroconversion. METHODS: We included 91 RTX-treated RD patients previously vaccinated against COVID-19...

OBJECTIVE: To determine incidence rate, predictors, and outcome of stroke in a population-based cohort of individuals with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV). METHODS: The study included 325 patients diagnosed with AAV from 1997 through 2016 in a defined geographic area of Sweden. Patients who suffered stroke were identified from Riksstroke, a national Swedish stroke register established in 1994, and the Skåne Healthcare Register (SHR), which includes data of all inhabitants of Skåne since 1998...

OBJECTIVES: Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is one of the most serious comorbidities associated with psoriasis. While the early intervention in PsA is demanded, risk factors of PsA development are not well-known. This is the first prospective study to evaluate the clinical significance of nailfold capillary (NFC) changes in patients with psoriasis. METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort study in a population of 449 psoriasis patients who had not been treated with systemic therapy or topical finger therapy...

OBJECTIVES: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease in which possible interstitial lung disease (ILD) is an extra-articular manifestation that carries significant morbidity and mortality. Rheumatoid Factors (RF) and anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA) are included in the RA classification criteria but prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers for disease endotyping and RA-ILD are lacking. Anti-protein arginine deiminase antibodies (anti-PAD) are a novel class of autoantibodies identified in RA...

OBJECTIVES: Symptomatic myopathy in sarcoidosis patients is not always due to sarcoid myopathy (SM). We investigated the clinical and pathological spectrum including myxovirus resistance protein A (MxA) expression among sarcoidosis patients. METHODS: We reviewed the Mayo Clinic database (May 1980 - December 2020) to identify sarcoidosis patients with myopathic symptoms and pathological evidence of myopathy. RESULTS: Among 5,885 sarcoidosis patients, 21 had symptomatic myopathy...

OBJECTIVES: Anterior atlanto-axial subluxation (AAS), defined as an anterior atlanto-dental interval (aADI) ≥3 mm, can occur in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and carries a risk of severe neurological impairments. Our objective was to determine the prevalence and predictors of radiographic aAAS after 12 years' follow-up of patients with early polyarthritis. METHODS: We studied patients enrolled in the early-polyarthritis cohort ESPOIR between 2002 and 2005 (at least two swollen joints for >6 weeks and <6 months, no other diagnosis than RA, and no previous exposure to glucocorticoids or disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs)...

OBJECTIVES: To understand the relationships between deprivation and obesity with self-reported disability and disease activity in people with RA; and whether BMI mediates the relationship between area-level deprivation and these outcomes. METHODS: Data came from the Rheumatoid Arthritis Medication Study (RAMS), a one-year multicentre prospective observational cohort of people with RA recruited from rheumatology centres across England commencing methotrexate for the first time...

Dealing with patients with both multiple sclerosis (MS) and inflammatory rheumatic disorders (IRD) is not uncommon for a rheumatologist, as there is a statistical association between spondyloarthritis and MS. As several central nervous system demyelinating events have been reported in patients treated with TNFi, the pre-existing demyelinating disease was considered a contraindication for TNFi. However, this contraindication is mainly based on a randomized controlled trial in MS and not on large epidemiologic studies...

OBJECTIVES: ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) is a group of multisystem diseases that can have several ocular manifestations. There are published data on ocular manifestations of granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), but few for eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) or microscopic polyangiitis (MPA). There is little information concerning chronicity, complications, and association with other cranial manifestations of AAV. METHODS: This study retrospectively analyzed longitudinal multicentre cohorts of individuals with AAV followed between 2006 and 2022...

OBJECTIVES: Around 30% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have an inadequate response to methotrexate (MTX). We aimed to use routine clinical and biological data to build machine learning models predicting EULAR inadequate response to MTX and to identify simple predictive biomarkers. METHODS: Models were trained on RA patients fulfilling the 2010 ACR/EULAR criteria from the ESPOIR and Leiden EAC cohorts to predict the EULAR response at 9 months (+/- 6 months)...

OBJECTIVES: In some patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), joint pain is more severe than expected based on the amount of joint swelling (referred to as disproportionate articular pain [DP]). We assessed DP prevalence and effects of sarilumab, an interleukin-6 inhibitor, on DP. METHODS: Data from RA patients treated with placebo or 200 mg sarilumab in phase 3 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) MOBILITY AND TARGET, adalimumab 40 mg or sarilumab 200 mg in the phase 3 RCT MONARCH, and sarilumab 200 mg in open-label extensions (OLEs) were used...

OBJECTIVE: Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is the leading cause of morbidity/mortality in systemic sclerosis (SSc). We aimed to study investigate the impact of sex on SSc-ILD. METHODS: EUSTAR SSc patients with radiological-confirmed ILD and available %predicted forced vital capacity(%pFVC) were included. Demographics and disease features were recorded. Change in %pFVC over 12±6 months (cohort 1) was classified into stable (≤4%), mild (5-9%) and large progression (≥10%)...

OBJECTIVE: To determine COVID-19 vaccine-related adverse events (AEs) in the seven-day post-vaccination period in patients with SLE versus autoimmune rheumatic diseases (AIRDs), non-rheumatic autoimmune diseases (nrAIDs), and healthy controls (HC). METHODS: Data were captured through the COVID-19 Vaccination in Autoimmune Diseases (COVAD) questionnaire (March-December 2021). Multivariable regression models accounted for age, gender, ethnicity, vaccine type, and background treatment...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

OBJECTIVE: Gout flares during urate-lowering therapy (ULT) initiation are common, but predictors of these flares are poorly understood. The aim of this study was to determine whether serum CA72-4 is an independent predictor for gout flares during ULT initiation. METHODS: A prospective cohort study was conducted between March 2021 and January 2022. Men with gout, at least one gout flare in the past year, and at least three serum CA72-4 measurements in the previous six months were enrolled...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

OBJECTIVES: Myeloid cells with a monocyte/macrophage phenotype are present in large numbers in the Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) joint, significantly contributing to disease, however distinct macrophage functions have yet to be elucidated. This study investigates the metabolic activity of infiltrating polarised macrophages and their impact on pro-inflammatory responses in RA. METHODS: CD14+ monocytes from RA and HC bloods were isolated and examined ex-vivo or following differentiation into 'M1/M2' macrophages...

OBJECTIVE: Class 3 semaphorins are reduced in the synovial tissue of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and these proteins are involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. The aim of this study was to identify the transcription factors involved in the expression of class 3 semaphorins in the synovium of RA patients. METHODS: Protein and mRNA expression in synovial tissue from RA and individuals at risk (IAR) patients, Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVEC) and RA fibroblast like synoviocytes (FLS) was determined by ELISA, immunoblotting and qPCR...

OBJECTIVE: To phenotype SLE based on symptom burden (disease damage, system involvement and patient reported outcomes), with a specific focus on objective and subjective cognitive function. METHODS: SLE patients aged 18-65 underwent objective cognitive assessment using the ACR Neuropsychological Battery (ACR-NB) and data was collected on demographic and clinical variables, disease burden/activity, health related quality of life (HRQoL), depression, anxiety, fatigue and perceived cognitive deficits...