Scleroderma News

Tocilizumab treatment in early interstitial lung disease, with progressive skin involvement related to systemic sclerosis, was able to stabilize forced vital capacity over 48 weeks, according to data published in Arthritis & Rheumatology.

Moderate and high disease activity, as well as the use of immunosuppressants, were associated with a higher risk for COVID-related death in patients with rheumatic diseases, according to data in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Patients’ response to anti-CTLA-4 or anti-PD-1 checkpoint therapy for advanced melanoma, and their incidence of immune-related adverse events of grade 3 or higher, were similar regardless of preexisting autoimmune disease, according to data.

Digital ulcers, Raynaud symptoms and gastrointestinal complications are the biggest contributors to worsening quality of life in patients with systemic sclerosis, according to data published in Rheumatology.

Although the risk for severe COVID-19 outcomes in patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal disease has lowered, it is nonetheless still significant, according to data published in The Lancet Rheumatology.

Patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases and COVID-19 may be at greater risk for hospitalization, ICU admission, acute renal failure and venous thromboembolism, according to data published in Arthritis & Rheumatology.

The overall quality of information found online regarding systemic sclerosis mouth treatment is “questionable” and requires a high level of reading skill, according to findings published in BMC Rheumatology.

The mortality risk for a 35-year-old patient with a rare autoimmune rheumatic disease during the COVID-19 pandemic is similar to that of a 55-year-old in the general population, according to UK data published in Rheumatology.

Patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases who contract COVID-19 may have a higher risk for end-organ failure than those without such diseases, according to a speaker at ACR Convergence 2020.

Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, especially those who are positive for anti-Sm antibodies, are at greater risk for adverse events associated with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, according to data presented at the ACR Convergence 2020 virtual meeting.