Rheumatoid Arthritis News

Approximately 27% of patients with a rheumatic disease experienced a change in employment status during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to survey results published in The Lancet Rheumatology.

The FDA has authorized emergency use of baricitinib alone for the treatment of adults and pediatric patients aged 2 years and older who are hospitalized with COVID-19.

Rheumatoid arthritis-related interstitial lung disease was associated with significantly higher rates of excess mortality compared with the general population, according to new research published in BMC Pulmonary Medicine.

Approximately 18% of patients in a rheumatic disease registry used cannabis in 2019, up from 6.3% in 2014, with the highest prevalence occurring in states where its use is legal, according to data published in Arthritis Care & Research.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis who receive even low daily doses of glucocorticoids are at a 59% increased risk for clinical vertebral fracture, according to data published in Rheumatology.

Patients with elderly-onset rheumatoid arthritis have similar disease activity and adverse-event risk responses to biologics as nonelderly patients, according to data published in The Journal of Rheumatology.

Daily glucocorticoid doses of 5 mg or more during the preceding 6 or 12 months is associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular events in steroid-naïve patients with rheumatoid arthritis, according to data.

This past spring, two studies shed light on how some of the largest clinician organizations and publishers in rheumatology, including the American College of Rheumatology and EULAR, have failed to provide adequate training materials or clear guidelines when it comes to caring for patients of color.

Researchers have identified five distinct phenotypic subgroups based on disease trajectory among methotrexate-naïve patients with rheumatoid arthritis receiving tofacitinib, according to data published in Arthritis Care & Research.

A study from Israel, where vaccination for COVID reached most of the population older than 16 years, showed older patients, post-transplant patients and those with advanced liver disease produced less immune response to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.