Rheumatoid Arthritis News

DESTIN, Fla. — Significantly higher than expected rates of patients with inflammatory arthritis, who were serologically negative for rheumatoid arthritis, seroconvert within 2 to 4 years, according to data presented at the 2019 North American Young Rheumatology Investigator Forum.

The burden of musculoskeletal diseases increased significantly between 2000 and 2015, and they are now the second most common cause of years lived with disability in the world, according to data published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

DESTIN, Fla. — Wearables are being used by patients with rheumatologic disease and research has indicated that clinicians can use activity tracker data for flare assessment, according to an expert here at the Congress of Clinical Rheumatology.

DESTIN, Fla. — Among the chief challenges in treating many connective tissue diseases is the significant amount of heterogeneity, particularly in systemic lupus erythematosus, according Judith A. James, MD, PhD, of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.

TORONTO — Statin use was associated with a reduced risk of knee or hip replacement in individuals with rheumatoid arthritis but not osteoarthritis, according to findings of a large cohort study presented here.

DESTIN, Fla. — T follicular helper cells, which are predominantly located in splenic lymphoid follicles, and their accumulated circulation in the peripheral blood, may contribute significantly to the development of active rheumatoid arthritis, according to data presented at the North American Young Rheumatology Investigator Forum.

DESTIN, Fla. — The riskiest thing you can do, when it comes to managing treatments for patients with rheumatic diseases, is to “play it safe,” according to John J. Cush, MD, director of clinical rheumatology for Baylor Scott & White Research Institute and professor of medicine and rheumatology at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.

DESTIN, Fla. — In a session here, Ronald F. van Vollenhoven, MD, PhD, of the Amsterdam University Medical Center, discussed the clinical utility of biomarkers to diagnose, predict disease activity and guide treatment decisions in rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus.

DESTIN, Fla. — Although early detection of rheumatoid arthritis is critical in reducing disease severity, the prevention of rheumatoid arthritis through early treatment remains a lofty goal for rheumatologists, according to a presenter at the 2019 Congress of Clinical Rheumatology.

DESTIN, Fla. — The amount of Medicare spending for conventional DMARDs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis ballooned from $98 million in 2012 to $550 million in 2016, while spending on biologic DMARDs doubled from $4.3 billion to $8.6 billion, despite only modest increases in total beneficiaries, according to a presenter at the 2019 North American Young Rheumatology Investigator Forum.