Rheumatoid arthritis: Latest research from ACR 2015

Rheumatoid arthritis affected more than 1.5 million adults in the United States in 2005, resulting in $22.3 billion in health care costs, according to the most recently available data from the CDC.

Researchers presented data on the newest research for the management of RA at the 2015 American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting. Here, Healio.com/Family Medicine presents five ‘fast facts’ from ACR 2015.

ACR releases 2015 guidelines for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

The American College of Rheumatology announced the release of the 2015 treatment guidelines for patients with rheumatoid arthritis during a press conference at the group’s annual meeting.

Jasvinder A. Singh , MD, MPH, who led the guideline assessment group, said the updated guidelines have added information about treatment with Xeljanz (tofacitinib; Pfizer), tapering strategies for corticosteroid use, biosimilars, tuber and medications during pregnancy. Read more.

Moderate link seen between obesity and risk for rheumatoid arthritis

Obesity was associated with a moderately increased risk for rheumatoid arthritis.

Obesity, defined as BMI of 30 or above, was associated with an odds ratio of 1.5 compared with patients with normal weight, or BMI between 18.5 and 25 regardless of sex. When stratified by age, the risk for RA was observed in the quartile of patients with disease onset at 50 years of age or earlier. Read more.

Methotrexate may be underused in US by patients with RA

Methotrexate may be prescribed to patients with rheumatoid arthritis at low doses, for an inadequate length of time and rarely in subcutaneous form prior to the initiation of a biologic therapy.

Oral methotrexate is underdosed in clinical practice, and most of the time methotrexate is successful. Switching to a biologic may be premature,” James R. O’Dell, MD, said during the presentation. Read more.

No link seen between number of RA flares and myocardial infarction risk

The rate of disease activity flares in patients with rheumatoid arthritis was not significantly associated with the risk for myocardial infarction.

The crude odds ratio was 0.78 for the association between the rate of flares and the occurrence of MI. Read more.

Disease activity may be masked by lower pain in older patients with RA

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have shown decreased levels of perceived pain may cause underestimation of disease activity in older patients with rheumatoid arthritis compared with younger patients.

Multivariate analyses showed patient pain levels negatively correlated with age after researchers adjusted their findings for sex, race, comorbidities and inflammation. Read more.