Rheumatoid Arthritis News

ATLANTA — Limited knowledge about inactivated vaccines, misconceptions and fears, as well as long wait times and accessibility issues are among the leading drivers of influenza vaccine hesitancy among adults with rheumatoid arthritis and juvenile idiopathic arthritis, according to a presenter at ACR/ARP 2019.

ATLANTA — Data from a 2-year, randomized controlled trial presented here demonstrate that using ultrasound findings to guide early rheumatoid arthritis treatment strategy did not reduce MRI inflammation or result in less structural damage.

ATLANTA — Tocilizumab is more effective than rituximab at achieving significant reductions in disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis who demonstrate low B-cell levels in synovial tissue and are unresponsive to conventional synthetic DMARDs or TNF inhibitors, according to a presenter at ACR/ARP 2019.

Repeat, routine testing for latent tuberculosis infection among patients receiving biologics is both costly and of low clinical value, according to findings presented at the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting.

ATLANTA — The incidence of opioid-related hospitalizations among patients with musculoskeletal conditions increased markedly over the past 2 decades, with continued growth among patients with osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia, according to a presentation at the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting.

ATLANTA — Nearly one-third of primary care providers who treat patients with arthritis failed to follow Exercise Is Medicine guidance for physical activity, according to data presented at ACR/ARP 2019.

ATLANTA — Fatigue and gastrointestinal complaints were the most common patient-reported adverse events associated with methotrexate among individuals with rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis, according to a speaker at ACR/ARP 2019.

ATLANTA — Data from the Varicella Zoster Vaccine study demonstrate that administering live, attenuated varicella vaccine to patients taking TNF inhibitors did not result in any safety events or disease flare after 6 weeks. In addition, there were no cases of varicella infection — either wild or vaccine type.

ATLANTA — More than one-third of patients with rheumatic diseases reported using marijuana to relieve pain with minimal guidance from their physicians, according to findings presented at ACR/ARP 2019.

MRI changes recorded as early as 1 month after the start of treatment for rheumatoid arthritis may be a better predictor of long-term radiographic progression than disease activity measures, according to data published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.