Arthritis

Abatacept is superior to placebo in improving subclinical inflammation in patients who are at high risk for rheumatoid arthritis, and in slowing arthritis progression, at 6 months, according to data presented at ACR Convergence 2021.

The FDA has approved a supplemental new drug application for ANI Pharmaceutical’s Cortrophin Gel to treat rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and certain other autoimmune diseases, according to a company press release.

The FDA recently approved Cyltezo as the first interchangeable biosimilar for certain inflammatory diseases, allowing prescribers to substitute it for Humira without a prescription change. It was the top story in rheumatology last week.

Among patients with arthritis who engaged in physical activity in the past month, about 71% reported walking as one of their two most frequent activities, followed by gardening and weightlifting, according to CDC researchers.

Diagnoses of arthritis, axial symptoms and tendonitis or enthesitis often increase over time before a patient is finally diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, according to data published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.

An estimated 58.5 million adults in the United States — nearly one-quarter of the country’s adult population — had arthritis, while 25.7 million demonstrated arthritis-related activity limitations, during 2016 to 2018, according to data.

The American College of Rheumatology recommended that patients with rheumatic diseases who are on immunosuppressants receive a third dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. It was the top story in rheumatology last week.

Shared features and clinical presentations can make diagnosis and management of psoriatic arthritis, non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis and reactive arthritis particularly challenging, according to a speaker at the 2021 Rheumatology Nurses Society annual conference.

In an effort to “improve uniformity” and reduce the “wide variation” in intra-articular therapy use, EULAR recently published 11 new recommendations to guide clinicians in employing these therapies for patients with peripheral arthropathies.

The rate of reported arthritis increased with the number of dental amalgam filling surfaces found in adults, with the rate peaking at four to seven dental amalgam filling surfaces before decreasing, according to results.