Psoriatic Arthritis News

The Arthritis Foundation is more than 70 years old, but its newest theme — Live Yes! — is in its infancy. Historically, the organization has zeroed in on key pillars, including access to care, advocacy in government and attention to the often-overlooked juvenile arthritis. Yet, the Foundation also understood the importance of interpersonal connections and support networks to patient well-being: An idea that laid the foundation for an online community that simultaneously educates and empowers patients, while cultivating their input to develop solutions for issues common to the arthritis population.

The very idea of social distancing runs contrary to congregation and celebration, two things that lie at the core of New Orleans culture. It is for this reason, perhaps, that New Orleanians were initially resistant to quarantine measures to contain COVID-19. But as the death toll climbed and Mayor LaToya Cantrell canceled St. Patrick’s Day festivities, the city slowly awakened to the idea that this was serious business.

Patients with both chronic inflammatory disease and inflammatory bowel disease demonstrated higher health use and costs, compared with those with just chronic inflammatory disease, according to data published in BMC Rheumatology.

A newly formed organization, the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance, has launched an international registry to collect data on patients with rheumatic diseases who may or may not have contracted the infection that is causing the global pandemic. The aim is to aid clinicians and researchers in real time as the situation evolves.

Treatment with TNF inhibitors are associated with an increased — albeit still low — risk for neuroinflammatory disease in patients with ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis, but not rheumatoid arthritis, according to data published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

A review of 75 adalimumab clinical trials in adult and pediatric patients demonstrated low rates of inflammatory bowel disease adverse events, according to data published in Arthritis Care & Research.

Adults aged 18 to 50 years with various rheumatic conditions experience significant arthritis-related financial burdens, often leading to considerable distress and anxiety, according to findings published in Arthritis Care & Research.

The situation with COVID-19, or the currently circulating coronavirus, is developing so rapidly that new information may likely be available by the time you reach the end of this paragraph. But along with factual information, misinformation also abounds on social media, on cable news channels and in print publications. Healio Rheumatology will attempt to set the record straight for health care providers looking to sort out fact from fiction.

Patients with inflammatory rheumatic disease receiving conventional DMARDs and a prime-boost vaccination strategy — a dose of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and a dose of 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine — saw improved immunogenicity, compared with single pneumococcal conjugate vaccination, according to data published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.

The United Rheumatology Spring National Meeting will offer attendees lectures on cutting edge topics such as genomics and transcriptomics in addition to a range of continuing medical education activities. But the real appeal of United Rheumatology, and of the meeting, will be the guidance that can be provided to independent rheumatologists regarding practice management strategies and interacting with payers.