Lupus

The FDA recently approved Cortrophin Gel for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases. It was the top story in rheumatology last week.

Hydroxychloroquine maintenance, compared with reducing or discontinuing, is associated with a lower risk for flare among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus in remission or very low disease activity, according to data presented here.

Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus who have cognitive impairment demonstrate abnormal brain functional connectivity relative to patients without impairment and healthy controls, according to data presented at ACR Convergence 2021.

Managing oral, ocular and cutaneous complications is critical to optimizing outcomes in conditions ranging from Sjögren’s syndrome to juvenile dermatomyositis, according to a presenter who offered a cross-section of “pearls and myths” at ACR Convergence 2021.

Patients with lupus nephritis who receive voclosporin demonstrated “meaningful reductions” in proteinuria with no change in mean estimated glomerular filtration rate at 30 months, according to data presented at ACR Convergence 2021.

Heart rate monitoring may be a crucial means of detecting rhythm abnormalities in the fetuses of pregnant individuals who are positive for anti-Ro/SSA antibodies, according to data presented at ACR Convergence 2021.

Black children with lupus are significantly more likely than white children to have an adverse renal outcome at any hospital encounter, despite an overall decrease in said outcomes since 2006, according to data presented at ACR Convergence 2021.

Race and residence are both independently associated with lupus nephritis mortality, with Black patients and those living in large central metropolitan areas demonstrating the highest rates, according to data presented at ACR Convergence 2021.

Although recent clinical data continue to expand possible treatment options for lupus nephritis, whether belimumab or voclosporin should be the first-line therapy remained hotly contested during the ACR’s annual Great Debate.

One-third of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus demonstrate low response to the COVID-19 vaccine, a “blunted effect” linked to use of any immunosuppressive agent except antimalarials, according to a presenter at ACR Convergence 2021.