Autoimmune And Rheumatic Diseases

Despite the placebo effect’s long history in medicine — not to mention the critical role placebo plays in randomized trials — the mechanism driving it remains poorly understood.

Private practice rheumatologists face an increasing array of challenges as large, corporate and academic health systems become the norm for medical care, threatening to bump smaller entities aside.

Reflecting on my decision to forge a career path in medicine and rheumatology, there were a series of experiences that strongly influenced me.

Just as the groundhog reappears each year to make its forecast, Feb. 2 also brings a renewed focus on rheumatoid arthritis and its impact on the daily lives of millions of Americans.

It is odd how chance events shape our careers and illuminate hidden paths for us.

Although rates of smoking have steadily declined in recent decades, 34 million Americans still use cigarettes, according to the American Cancer Society, with many of those millions being patients with autoimmune and rheumatic diseases.

Our cover story this month is on the next wave of immune-based therapies for patients with immune-mediated inflammatory conditions — and the prospects are bright.

SAN DIEGO — COVID-19 vaccine boosters led to a significantly increased antibody response in patients using abatacept or TNF inhibitors regardless of whether they held medication, according to data presented at ACR Convergence 2023.

As of just a few years ago, early enthusiasm over the apparent interplay between the gut microbiome and the immune system, and that it was driving or exacerbating certain rheumatic diseases, seemed to have all but dried up.

SAN DIEGO — A fourth COVID-19 mRNA vaccine dose reduces the risk for severe infection by 65% in patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic disease using immunomodulators, according to data presented at ACR Convergence 2023.