Lupus News

DESTIN, Fla. — Despite its common association with autoimmune diseases, just 17% of patients with uveitis are evaluated for, or diagnosed with, a systemic autoimmune disease when receiving ophthalmology care, according to a presenter at the 2019 North American Young Rheumatology Investigator Forum.

DESTIN, Fla. — Nephritis is less prevalent among patients with both systemic lupus erythematosus and common variable immunodeficiency disease than in other lupus cohorts, while neuropsychiatric and other autoimmune complications may be more common, according to a presenter at the 2019 North American Young Rheumatology Investigator Forum.

More than 620 registered attendees from 45 states and 11 countries are traveling to Destin, Florida, this week for the 2019 Congress of Clinical Rheumatology, scheduled for May 2 to 5, according to David McLain, MD, FACP, FACR, where they will learn about a wide range of topics from speakers they may not hear anywhere else.

Sexual dysfunction is highly prevalent among men and women with inflammatory arthritis, with diseases-related factors impacting fluctuations in sexual function and reduced sexual desire, according to data published in Arthritis Care & Research.

The FDA has approved intravenous belimumab for the treatment of children aged 5 years and older with systemic lupus erythematosus, according to an FDA press release.

All patients with lupus should receive hydroxychloroquine and, during chronic maintenance treatment, glucocorticoids should be minimized and withdrawn when possible, according to a 2019 update to the EULAR recommendations for the management of systemic lupus erythematosus.

Resistant hypertension is nearly twice as prevalent among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus than in the general population, according to recent findings in Arthritis Care & Research.

The New York attorney general, Letitia James, has filed a lawsuit against a Manhattan stem cell clinic and the physician running it for allegedly selling unproven treatments for lupus and other autoimmune conditions, among others.

CHICAGO — Rheumatologists should make greater efforts to collaborate with ophthalmologists to better care for patients with inflammatory and systemic eye diseases such as uveitis and scleritis, according to Jim T. Rosenbaum, MD, chief of the division of arthritis and rheumatic diseases at Oregon Health & Science University.

Primary care patients with inflammatory disease, particularly those with early-onset disease, demonstrate elevated rates of depression and anxiety, according to data published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.