Articles

Fibroblast-like synovial cell production of extra domain A fibronectin associates with inflammation in osteoarthritis

The pathophysiology of osteoarthritis (OA) involves wear and tear, and a state of low-grade inflammation. Tissue repair responses include transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ)-induced myofibroblast production...

Authors: Tue W. Kragstrup, Dong H. Sohn, Christin M. Lepus, Kazuhiro Onuma, Qian Wang, William H. Robinson and Jeremy Sokolove

Serious infections in patients with self-reported psoriatic arthritis from the Psoriasis Longitudinal Assessment and Registry (PSOLAR) treated with biologics

Patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) have increased risk of adverse events, including serious infections (SI), compared with psoriasis patients.

Authors: Christopher T. Ritchlin, Mona Stahle, Yves Poulin, Jerry Bagel, Soumya D. Chakravarty, Shelly Kafka, Bhaskar Srivastava, Wayne Langholff and Alice B. Gottlieb

Disease activity flares and pain flares in an early rheumatoid arthritis inception cohort; characteristics, antecedents and sequelae

RA flares are common and disabling. They are described in terms of worsening inflammation but pain and inflammation are often discordant. To inform treatment decisions, we investigated whether inflammatory and...

Authors: Daniel F. McWilliams, Shimin Rahman, Richard J. E. James, Eamonn Ferguson, Patrick D. W. Kiely, Adam Young and David A. Walsh

Expert consensus on relevant risk predictors for the occurrence of osteoporotic fractures in specific clinical subgroups – Delphi survey

There is an ongoing discussion about incorporating additional risk factors to established WHO fracture risk assessment tool (FRAX) to improve the prediction accuracy in clinical subgroups. We aimed to reach an...

Authors: Nicolas S. Bodmer, Hans Jörg Häuselmann, Diana Frey, Daniel Aeberli and Lucas M. Bachmann

Takayasu arteritis with pyoderma gangrenosum: case reports and literature review

Takayasu arteritis is a rare, chronic inflammatory arteriopathy affecting mainly the aorta and its branches. Many skin manifestations have been reported in association with this disease. Pyoderma gangrenosum i...

Authors: Xuehan Zhang and Yang Jiao

The multifaceted impact of anxiety and depression on patients with rheumatoid arthritis

The prevalence of mood disturbances such as anxiety and depression is greater in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients than in the general population. Given this association, the primary aim of this study was to ...

Authors: Steve Peterson, James Piercy, Stuart Blackburn, Emma Sullivan, Chetan S. Karyekar and Nan Li

Fibromyalgia in the workplace: risk factors for sick leave are related to professional context rather than fibromyalgia characteristics— a French national survey of 955 patients

Work and workplace factors are important in fibromyalgia management. We investigated factors associated with sick leave in professionally active women living with fibromyalgia.

Authors: F. Laroche, D. Azoulay, A. P. Trouvin, J. Coste and S. Perrot

A systematic review of guidelines for managing rheumatoid arthritis

We systematically reviewed current guidelines for managing rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to evaluate their range and nature, assess variations in their recommendations and highlight divergence in their perspectives.

Authors: Aneela Mian, Fowzia Ibrahim and David L. Scott

A review of accelerometer-derived physical activity in the idiopathic inflammatory myopathies

The idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs) are a group of rare conditions characterised by muscle inflammation (myositis). Accurate disease activity assessment is vital in both clinical and research setting...

Authors: Alexander Oldroyd, Max A. Little, William Dixon and Hector Chinoy

Development of ReproKnow, a reproductive knowledge assessment for women with rheumatic diseases

The objective of this study was to develop an assessment tool, ReproKnow, to evaluate the reproductive health knowledge of women with a wide range of rheumatic diseases.

Authors: Mehret Birru Talabi, Megan E. B. Clowse, Susan J. Blalock, Galen Switzer, Lan Yu, Alaina Chodoff and Sonya Borrero

Trends in diagnostic prevalence and treatment patterns of male and female ankylosing spondylitis patients in the United States, 2006–2016

There has been much variation between epidemiological studies that report the prevalence of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). This study aimed to analyze the diagnostic prevalence rates and treatment patterns of ma...

Authors: Jessica Walsh, Theresa Hunter, Krista Schroeder, David Sandoval and Rebecca Bolce

Group B streptococcus is the most common pathogen for septic arthritis with unique clinical characteristics: data from 12 years retrospective cohort study

Group B Streptococcus (GBS) emerged as the frequent pathogen for septic arthritis. There was no study comparing risks, clinical presentations and outcomes between GBS septic arthritis and other bacterial septi...

Authors: Rungkan Ruksasakul, Pongthorn Narongroeknawin, Paijit Assavatanabodee and Sumapa Chaiamnuay

Prevalence and associated factors of subclinical atherosclerosis in rheumatoid arthritis at the university hospital of Kinshasa

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with a 5 to 10 years reduction in life expectancy due to premature atherosclerosis. This reduction is the consequence of traditional cardiovascular risk factors (TCRF) a...

Authors: Christophe Mulumba, Pierrot Lebughe, Jean-Marie Mbuyi-Muamba, Jean-Robert Makulo, François Lepira, Jean Mukaya, Rene Westhovens, Patrick Verschueren and Jean-Jacques Malemba

Which patient reported outcome domains are important to the rheumatologists while assessing patients with rheumatoid arthritis?

Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) aid in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) management, but it is not well understood which measures would be most relevant to the rheumatologists for making treatment decisions.

Authors: Aprajita Jagpal, Ronan O’Beirne, Melanie S. Morris, Bernadette Johnson, James Willig, Huifeng Yun, Andrea L. Cherrington, Liana Fraenkel, Jeffrey R. Curtis, Monika M. Safford and Iris Navarro-Millán

Adverse infusion reactions to rituximab in systemic lupus erythematosus: a retrospective analysis

To undertake a retrospective review of patients with SLE who had received Rituximab in order to determine the rates and associated patient characteristics of clinically significant adverse infusion reactions.

Authors: Ashleigh Hennessey, Joanna Lukawska, Geraldine Cambridge, David Isenberg and Maria Leandro

Immunoglobulin abnormalities are frequent in patients with lupus nephritis

Hypogammaglobulinemia is a complication of B-cell targeting therapies (BCTT), used in vasculitis, rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Since autoimmune diseases are associated with unde...

Authors: M. J. Cuadrado, I. Calatayud, M. Urquizu-Padilla, S. Wijetilleka, S. Kiani-Alikhan and M. Y. Karim

Publisher Correction to: BMC Rheumatology, volume 3

An error occurred during the publication of a number of articles in BMC Rheumatology. Several articles were published in volume 3 with a duplicate citation number.

Authors:

Abstracts of scientific contributions to GCOM 2019

Authors:

Health-related quality of life in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease that primarily affects joints with some extraarticular involvement. If inappropriately treated, it usually results in persistent joint pain, i...

Authors: Wanruchada Katchamart, Pongthorn Narongroeknawin, Wanwisa Chanapai and Phakhamon Thaweeratthakul

Biomarkers of cardiovascular risk across phenotypes of osteoarthritis

The objective of this study was to explore the associations between ultrasonographic and radiographic joint scores and levels of arterial CVD risk markers in patients with osteoarthritis (OA). Secondly, to com...

Authors: S. A. Provan, S. Rollefstad, E. Ikdahl, A. Mathiessen, I. J. Berg, I. Eeg, I. B. Wilkinson, C. M. McEniery, T. K. Kvien, H. B. Hammer, N. Østerås, I. K. Haugen and A. G. Semb

Retinal vasculitis with Chronic Recurrent Multifocal Osteomyelitis: a case report and review of the literature

Concurrent presentation of retinal vasculitis with mixed sclerotic and lytic bone lesions is rare.

Authors: Victoria K. Shanmugam, Marc Phillpotts, Timothy Brady, Monica Dalal, Shawn Haji-Momenian, Esma Akin, Kavita Nataranjan, Sean McNish and Donald S. Karcher

Administrative database as a source for assessment of systemic lupus erythematosus prevalence: Estonian experience

Administrative database research is widely applied in the field of epidemiology. However, the results of the studies depend on the type of database used and the algorithms applied for case ascertainment. The o...

Authors: Kati Otsa, Sandra Talli, Pille Harding, Eevi Parsik, Marge Esko, Anti Teepere and Marika Tammaru

Incidence and prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis in Saskatchewan, Canada: 2001–2014

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory and destructive arthritis. Understanding the incidence and prevalence of RA within the province facilitates appropriate health care resource planning.

Authors: Bindu Nair, Regina Taylor-Gjevre, Liying Wu, Shan Jin and Jacqueline M. Quail

The challenges of gout flare reporting: mapping flares during a randomized controlled trial

Methods of gout flare reporting in research settings are inconsistent and poorly defined. The aim of this study was to describe patterns of gout flare and assess the concurrent validity of different methods of...

Authors: Novell Teoh, Gregory D. Gamble, Anne Horne, William J. Taylor, Kate Palmano and Nicola Dalbeth

The prevalence and types of discordance between physician perception and objective data from standardized measures of rheumatoid arthritis disease activity in real-world clinical practice in the US

Heterogeneity in assessments of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease remission, based on physician judgment and patient self-reports versus standardized measures, have previously been reported. This study explore...

Authors: Wenhui Wei, Emma Sullivan, Stuart Blackburn, Chieh-I Chen, James Piercy and Jeffrey R. Curtis

Stress levels predict substantial improvement in pain intensity after 10 to 12 years in women with fibromyalgia and chronic widespread pain: a cohort study

Previous studies of prognosis for women with Fibromyalgia (FM) or chronic widespread pain (CWP) show contradictory results. However, some women appear to improve in pain and other core symptoms over time. Ther...

Authors: Anna Bergenheim, Sofia Juhlin, Lena Nordeman, Monica Joelsson and Kaisa Mannerkorpi

Development and psychometric properties of a self-care behaviors scale (SCBS) among patients with rheumatoid arthritis

The role of self-care behaviors in promoting physical function, pain management, health status and quality of life among patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is well documented. However, there is no valid a...

Authors: Haidar Nadrian, Yasna Hosseini Niaz, Zahra Basiri and Ahmad Tahamoli Roudsari

“Living a normal life”: a qualitative study of patients’ views of medication withdrawal in rheumatoid arthritis

Withdrawal of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) once disease remission is achieved is endorsed by current international rheumatoid arthritis (RA) management guidelines. However, very little data ...

Authors: Kenneth F. Baker, John D. Isaacs and Ben Thompson

Predictors of biologic-free disease control in patients with rheumatoid arthritis after stopping tumor necrosis factor inhibitor treatment

The aim of this study was to identify predictors of prolonged disease control after discontinuation of tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Authors: Marjan Ghiti Moghadam, Femke B. G. Lamers-Karnebeek, Harald E. Vonkeman, Peter M. ten Klooster, Janneke Tekstra, Barbara van Schaeybroeck, Ruth Klaasen, Marieke van Onna, Hein J. Bernelot Moens, Henk Visser, Annemarie M. Schilder, Marc R. Kok, Robert B. M. Landewé, Piet L. C. M. van Riel, Mart A. F. J. van de Laar and Tim L. Jansen

Fatty corner lesions in T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging as an alternative to sacroiliitis for diagnosis of axial spondyloarthritis

A fatty corner lesion (FCL) is a well-demarcated fat infiltration in the corner of a vertebral body on T1 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequence. It has been reported to be useful in the diagnosis of axial ...

Authors: Ho Yin Chung, Rachel Sze Wan Yiu, Shirley Chiu Wai Chan, Kam Ho Lee and Chak Sing Lau

Quality and continuity of information between primary care physicians and rheumatologists

Good communication is central to a high-quality consultation process. We assessed the quality of referral information from primary care physicians (PCPs) to rheumatologists and the quality and timeliness of co...

Authors: Jenna Wong, Karen Tu, Sasha Bernatsky, Liisa Jaakkimainen, J. Carter Thorne, Vandana Ahluwalia, J. Michael Paterson and Jessica Widdifield

AxSpA patients who also meet criteria for fibromyalgia: identifying distinct patient clusters using data from a UK national register (BSRBR-AS)

Around 1 in 8 patients with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) also meet criteria for fibromyalgia and such patients have considerable unmet need. Identifying effective therapy is important but to what extent fib...

Authors: Gary J. Macfarlane, Ejaz Pathan, Stefan Siebert, Jonathan Packham, Karl Gaffney, Ernest Choy, Raj Sengupta, Fabiola Atzeni, Kathryn R. Martin, Gareth T. Jones and Linda E. Dean

Management of Inflammatory Arthritis in pregnancy: a National Cross-Sectional Survey of Canadian rheumatologists

With improved therapies and management, more women with inflammatory arthritides (IA) are considering pregnancy. Our objective was to survey rheumatologists across Canada about their IA management in pregnancy...

Authors: Mary A. De Vera, Corisande Baldwin, Nicole W. Tsao, Alyssa Howren, Glen S. Hazlewood, Nevena Rebić and Stephanie Ensworth

Cost-effectiveness of different treat-to-target strategies in rheumatoid arthritis: results from the DREAM registry

Adjusting medication of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) until predefined disease activity targets are met, i.e. Treat-to-Target (T2T), is the currently recommended treatment approach. However, not much...

Authors: Celine J. van de Laar, Martijn A. H. Oude Voshaar and Harald E. Vonkeman

Efficacy of subcutaneous tocilizumab in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and systemic sclerosis overlap syndrome: a report of two cases and review of the literature

The details of two rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) who were administered tocilizumab, an anti-interleukin-6 receptor antibody, are reported, along with a review of the literature.

Authors: Hiroki Wakabayashi, Hitoshi Kino, Makoto Kondo, Keiichi Yamanaka, Masahiro Hasegawa and Akihiro Sudo

Effects of tofacitinib on the clinical features of periodontitis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: two case reports

The pathobiology of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is similar to that of periodontitis in that proinflammatory cytokines play an important pathologic role. There is evidence to suggest that inhibitors of tumor necr...

Authors: Tetsuo Kobayashi, Satoshi Ito, Akira Murasawa, Hajime Ishikawa and Hiromasa Yoshie

The utility of ESR, CRP and platelets in the diagnosis of GCA

To compare the utility of ESR, CRP and platelets for the diagnosis of GCA.

Authors: Fiona Li Ying Chan, Susan Lester, Samuel Lawrence Whittle and Catherine Louise Hill

Intensive management for moderate rheumatoid arthritis: a qualitative study of patients’ and practitioners’ views

The TITRATE trial seeks to test whether intensive management is valuable in achieving disease remission in moderately active rheumatoid arthritis. Intensive management is a complex intervention consisting of: ...

Authors: Louise Prothero, Jackie Sturt, Savia de Souza and Heidi Lempp

Incident gout and chronic Kidney Disease: healthcare utilization and survival

Uncontrolled gout can cause significant joint and organ damage and has been associated with impairments in quality of life and high economic cost. Gout has also been associated with other comorbid diseases, su...

Authors: Dena H. Jaffe, Alyssa B. Klein, Arriel Benis, Natalia M. Flores, Hagit Gabay, Robert Morlock, Dana Y. Teltsch, Jonathan Chapnick, Yair Molad, Shmuel M. Giveon, Becca Feldman and Maya Leventer-Roberts

Relapse rates after elective discontinuation of anti-TNF therapy in rheumatoid arthritis: a meta-analysis and review of literature

Inhibitors of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) are current mainstay of therapies for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The decision when to withdraw TNF-α inhibitors after achieving remission and the incidence of ...

Authors: Arduino A. Mangoni, Fahdah Al Okaily, Hani Almoallim, Seham Al Rashidi, Reem Hamdy A. Mohammed and Amal Barbary

Eosinophils in anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody associated vasculitis

Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies associated vasculitides (AAV) are characterized by autoimmune small vessel inflammation. Eosinophils are multifunctional cells with both pro-inflammatory and immunoregula...

Authors: Thomas Hellmark, Sophie Ohlsson, Åsa Pettersson, Markus Hansson and Åsa C. M. Johansson

Gout and sexual function: patient perspective of how gout affects personal relationships and intimacy

In absence of previous studies, we assessed how gout impacts relationship and intimacy with spouse/significant other.

Authors: Jasvinder A. Singh

Comparative study of Interleukin-18 (IL-18) serum levels in adult onset Still’s disease (AOSD) and systemic onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA) and its use as a biomarker for diagnosis and evaluation of disease activity

Signs and symptoms establish the diagnosis of adult onset Still’s disease (AOSD) as well as of systemic onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA). The published data regarding the importance of IL-18 as a mar...

Authors: Holger Kudela, Susanne Drynda, Anke Lux, Gerd Horneff and Joern Kekow

Real world long-term impact of intensive treatment on disease activity, disability and health-related quality of life in rheumatoid arthritis

The emphasis on treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA) intensively reduces disease activity but its impact in routine care is uncertain. We evaluated temporal changes in disease activities and outcomes in a 10-yea...

Authors: Nicola J. Gullick, Fowzia Ibrahim, Ian C. Scott, Alexandra Vincent, Andrew P. Cope, Toby Garrood, Gabriel S. Panayi, David L. Scott and Bruce W. Kirkham

Severe skin disease in lupus associated with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis: case reports and review of the literature

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a severe clinical entity associated with high mortality in the adult population. HLH has been associated with infections, malignancy and autoimmune conditions such a...

Authors: Christina S. Thornton, Parham Minoo, Michelle Schneider and Aurore Fifi-Mah

Living life precariously with rheumatoid arthritis - a mega-ethnography of nine qualitative evidence syntheses

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that causes joint inflammation. It affects around 400,000 people in the UK and 1 million adults in the USA. Given the appropriate treatment, many can have relative...

Authors: Fran Toye, Kate Seers and Karen Louise Barker

Tissue metabolite of type I collagen, C1M, and CRP predicts structural progression of rheumatoid arthritis

Biomarkers of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity typically measure inflammation or autoimmunity (e.g. CRP, RF). C1M and C3M, metabolites of type I and III collagen, are markers reflecting tissue metabo...

Authors: Anne C. Bay-Jensen, Adam Platt, Martin A. Jenkins, Michael E. Weinblatt, Inger Byrjalsen, Kishwar Musa, Mark C. Genovese and Morten A. Karsdal

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the modified Pilates method versus aerobic exercise in the treatment of patients with fibromyalgia: protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Fibromyalgia is characterized by chronic generalized pain, fatigue, sleep disorders and other symptoms. Physical exercise is recommended as the first choice of non-pharmacological therapy. Thus, the aim of thi...

Authors: Katherinne Ferro Moura Franco, Yuri Rafael dos Santos Franco, Evany Maira Espírito Santo Salvador, Bruna Cristina Brajon do Nascimento, Gisela Cristiane Miyamoto and Cristina Maria Nunes Cabral

Malignancy risk in Australian rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with anti-tumour necrosis factor therapy: an update from the Australian Rheumatology Association Database (ARAD) prospective cohort study

Tumour necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) therapy has been available for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients for several decades but data on the long-term risk of malignancy associated with its use is limited. Ou...

Authors: Margaret P. Staples, Lyn March, Catherine Hill, Marissa Lassere and Rachelle Buchbinder

Association of Catechol-O-methyltransferase single nucleotide polymorphisms, ethnicity, and sex in a large cohort of fibromyalgia patients

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a complex, centralized pain condition that is often difficult to diagnose and treat. FM is considered to have a genetic background due to its familial aggregation and due to findings from ...

Authors: Chee Lee, Ginevra Liptan, Svetlana Kantorovich, Maneesh Sharma and Ashley Brenton