Polymyositis News

Intravenous immunoglobulin 10% in doses of 2 g/kg demonstrated significantly higher treatment response rates, compared with placebo, in patients with dermatomyositis, according to a speaker at the EULAR 2021 Congress.

Janus kinase inhibitors “may prove useful” in a wider range of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, including refractory cutaneous dermatomyositis, chronic plaque psoriasis and other conditions, according to a speaker here.

Tocilizumab improves outcomes in patients with giant cell arteritis who present with polymyalgia rheumatica symptoms only, cranial symptoms only or both at baseline, according to data published in Seminars in Arthritis & Rheumatism.

Darker skin tones are “significantly underrepresented” in rheumatology clinical image banks, including the American College of Rheumatology Image Library and The New England Journal of Medicine Images in Clinical Medicine, according to data.

Rituximab was associated with more severe COVID-19 in patients with inflammatory rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases, according to data published in The Lancet Rheumatology.

Patients with inflammatory rheumatic disease, but especially those with autoimmune conditions, as well as those treated with rituximab, may be at greater risk for severe COVID-19 pneumonia than the general population, according to data.

COVID-19 is more severe, with more complications and higher mortality, than influenza among patients with autoimmune disease, according to data published in Rheumatology.

Dermatomyositis, older age and anti-transcriptional intermediary factor-1 gamma positivity are associated with a significantly increased risk for cancer in patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, according to a meta-analysis.

Moderate and high disease activity, as well as the use of immunosuppressants, were associated with a higher risk for COVID-related death in patients with rheumatic diseases, according to data in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Patients’ response to anti-CTLA-4 or anti-PD-1 checkpoint therapy for advanced melanoma, and their incidence of immune-related adverse events of grade 3 or higher, were similar regardless of preexisting autoimmune disease, according to data.