Rheumatoid refresher: Top news you may have missed for Rheumatoid Awareness Day
While you wait for the groundhog to make his determination this weekend, take some time to buff up your knowledge of rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic autoimmune disease that affects about 1.5 million people in the United States.
Sunday, Feb. 2, marks Rheumatoid Awareness Day, a time for spreading knowledge about this debilitating disease that too often lurks undetected. Early diagnosis and proper treatment are key to mitigating severe complications, including permanent damage to joints, lungs and the cardiovascular system.
Over the past year, Healio has delved into the unique challenges RA poses among Native Americans, particularly those of the Navajo Nation, who face some of the highest prevalence rates among all ethnic groups. We also looked back in time thousands of years to ask what we could learn from the discovery of an ancient Egyptian skeleton with evidence of RA. And experts weighed in on the potential of a novel therapy, vagus nerve stimulation, that some believe could be approved as soon as this year.
For some topical reading on Rheumatoid Awareness Day, Healio has assembled some of our top coverage featuring those stories and more from the past year in RA.
Combating high RA prevalence in Navajo Nation requires ‘position of humble inquiry’
Compared with the general U.S. population, Navajo Nation in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah has five times the prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis.
On top of that, there is a waiting list more than 6 months long to see the single rheumatologist serving the area. Read more.
Increased cereal fiber intake may reduce rheumatoid arthritis risk
Individuals with higher cereal fiber intake are less likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis, according to data published in Nature Scientific Reports.
The researchers additionally concluded that the Dietary Inflammatory Index score is a “crucial intermediary” in this relationship, highlighting the role of diet in preventing and managing RA. Read more.
Exposure to nitrogen oxides, particulate matter increase risk for autoimmune disease
Exposure to various air pollutants, such as PM2.5 and nitrogen oxides, increases the risk for several autoimmune diseases, including psoriasis, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, according to data published in Scientific Reports.
“Although a large number of studies have shown that air pollution is strongly associated with the risk of [autoimmune diseases], there are often contradictions between different studies,” Ming Zhang, of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, in China, and colleagues wrote. “Therefore, there is still a lack of crucial evidence to support the causal relationship between the two.” Read more.
Enbrel, Stelara to be discounted nearly 70% through Medicare price negotiations
The list prices of Stelara and Enbrel for Medicare users will be discounted nearly 70% come 2026 as a result of the first round CMS price negotiations with drugmakers, the White House has announced.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2026, a 30-day supply of Stelara (ustekinumab, Janssen) will be discounted 66% from its 2023 list price, from $13, 836 to $4,695. Meanwhile, a 30-day supply of Enbrel (etanercept, Amgen) will be discounted 67%, from $7,106 to $2,355. Read more.
Anticipated vagus nerve stimulation approval may fill ‘demand’ in rheumatoid arthritis
When researchers at ACR Convergence 2024 presented positive data from the RESET RA study regarding vagus nerve stimulation in rheumatoid arthritis, it represented the latest milestone on a long and unpredictable journey for the treatment.
It’s a journey that, according to those researchers and other experts, will likely end in FDA approval for RA, possibly as early as this year. Read more.
Ancient skeleton with RA may suggest ‘we’ve been dealing with these diseases forever’
Archaeologists in Egypt recently discovered evidence of an ancient case of rheumatoid arthritis, potentially filling in the timeline of humanity’s relationship with autoimmune disease.
The skeleton was excavated in 2018 from an ancient cemetery in what is now Aswan, in southern Egypt, and determined to be that of a woman aged 25 to 30 years who lived between 1750 BCE and 1550 BCE. Macroscopic examination revealed bilateral, erosive periarticular lesions with smooth borders on multiple hand and foot joints. A differential diagnosis, limited by a lack of X-ray imagery and other facts of the passage of time, suggested the woman most likely suffered from the condition we now know as RA, Madeleine Mant, PhD, of the University of Toronto Mississauga, and colleagues wrote in a study published in January in the International Journal of Paleopathology. Read more.
Push to ‘repair the mitochondria’ may revolutionize rheumatoid arthritis treatment
Last year, a presentation at ACR Convergence provided a glimpse into a potential mechanism of inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis that may fundamentally alter treatment approaches.
Cornelia M. Weyand, MD, PhD, a professor of medicine and immunology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, and professor emerita of medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine, presented the data at the meeting’s Klemperer Memorial Lecture, “Rheumatoid Arthritis as a Mitochondrial Disease.” Read more.
US Veterans Affairs to replace Humira with biosimilar on national formulary
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will replace Humira with the biosimilar Hadlima on its national formulary, according to a press release from Organon, which markets biosimilar.
Hadlima (adalimumab-bwwd; Organon, Samsung Bioepis) is a TNF inhibitor indicated for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. It became the fourth FDA-approved biosimilar to Humira (adalimumab, AbbVie) in 2019. Read more.
Patients with arthritis at higher risk for poor nutrition regardless of function
Older adults with arthritis demonstrate poorer nutritional risk scores, and increased risks for poor nutrition, whether they have functional impairment or not, vs. those without arthritis, according to data published in Scientific Reports.
“While the relationship between arthritis and functional impairment is established, the contribution of different types of arthritis, such as osteoarthritis, and other external factors to the development of functional impairment, and further to the development of nutritional risk, is less understood,” Roxanne Bennett, MSc, RD, of the Concordia University School of Health, in Montreal, and colleagues wrote. “There is a paucity of data on the relationship between arthritis, nutrition risk and the role of functional impairment within that relationship.” Read more.
Men with inflammatory joint diseases have more children than those without IJDs
Men with inflammatory joint diseases have more children and are less likely to be childless, compared with those without inflammatory joint diseases, according to data published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.
“Our male patients with inflammatory joint diseases (IJDs) are often concerned about possible effects of their disease and medication on fertility,” Gudrun D. Sigmo, of Stavanger University Hospital, in Norway, told Healio. “There has been a lack of large studies regarding male fertility in patients with IJDs, and hence the recommendations we use — regarding medication, et cetera — are extrapolated from documentation on female reproduction and fertility.” Read more.