Rheumatoid Arthritis News

Short interruptions in face-to-face rheumatology visits due to COVID-19 considerations resulted in no major negative effects for patients with inflammatory arthritis, according to findings published in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Practices that participated in the American College of Rheumatology’s RISE registry between 2015 and 2017 enjoyed improved performance in rheumatoid arthritis quality measures, according to findings published in Arthritis Care & Research.

The percentage of adult arthritis visits to office-based physicians increased significantly during 2006-2015, with the percentage of visits where opioids were prescribed also increasing during that time, according to data.

Sarilumab is associated with a greater reduction in glycosylated hemoglobin among patients with rheumatoid arthritis, with or without diabetes, compared with DMARDs or adalimumab, according to findings in Arthritis Research & Therapy.

Depression is associated with an increased risk for seronegative rheumatoid arthritis, suggesting a link that is unexplained by previous lifestyle factors, according to data published in Arthritis Care & Researchers.

While pharmacotherapy makes strides in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, experts must recognize how other factors in a patient’s life can affect his or her disease.

Physicians should confront difficult-to-treat rheumatoid arthritis by rethinking the diagnosis, reassessing available medications, and — importantly — talking with the patient, according to a speaker at the 2020 Congress of Clinical Rheumatology-West.

While the broad range of available therapies to treat rheumatoid arthritis provides clinicians with options, there is still no clear-cut treatment algorithm for every patient, according to a presenter at the 2020 Congress of Clinical Rheumatology-West.

Participants in rheumatoid arthritis clinical trials who received a placebo exhibited meaningful gains in objective and subjective outcomes, indicating that placebo responses represent more than a psychological effect, researchers noted.

TNF inhibitors and methotrexate produced similar reductions in HbA1c among patients with psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis or ankylosing spondylitis who also have diabetes, according to data published in BMC Rheumatology.