Articles

Resolution of calcinosis using bisphosphonates in overlap syndrome – a case report

Calcinosis cutis is a common complication of pediatric rheumatologic diseases. However, there is currently no consensus on first-line treatment. Bisphosphonates have been described as a successful treatment in...

Authors: Mitchell Platter, Brian Pugmire and Reshma Patel

Potential contributors to low dose methotrexate toxicity in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis and pernicious anemia: case report

Low dose methotrexate toxicity rarely occurs, but may present with severe complications, such as pancytopenia, hepatotoxicity, mucositis, and pneumonitis. Known risk factors for methotrexate toxicity include d...

Authors: Miguel A. Jara-Palacios, William Chun and Nomi L. Traub

Outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with abatacept: a UK multi-centre observational study

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease that causes chronic synovitis, resulting in progressive joint destruction and functional disability and affects approximately 400,000 people in t...

Authors: Ernest Choy, Lara Groves, Daniel Sugrue, Michael Hurst, John Houghton, Srinivasan Venkatachalam, Yusuf I. Patel, James R. Maxwell, Kevin G. Pollock and Sadie Henning

“An apple pie a day does not keep the doctor away”: Fictional depictions of gout in contemporary film and television

Fictional portrayals of illness and medical management in film and television can reflect and perpetuate cultural stereotypes about illness. The aim of this study was to analyse fictional depictions of gout in...

Authors: Christina Derksen, Rachel Murdoch, Keith J. Petrie and Nicola Dalbeth

Diagnosis of Behçet’s disease: clinical characteristics, diagnostic criteria, and differential diagnoses

The diagnosis of Behçet disease (BD) is challenging in many cases. The purpose of this study was to describe the clinical characteristics of patients at a referral BD clinic.

Authors: Mina Kiafar, Seyedeh Tahereh Faezi, Amir Kasaeian, Azarakhsh Baghdadi, Sahar Kakaei, Seyed Ali Mousavi, Mohammad Nejadhosseinian, Farhad Shahram, Seyedeh Zahra Ghodsi, Hormoz Shams and Fereydoun Davatchi

The PD-1:PD-L1 axis in Inflammatory Arthritis

The activation of antigen specific T cells during an immune response is a tightly regulated process at the level of both costimulatory and coinhibitory receptors. One such coinhibitory receptor or checkpoint i...

Authors: Mary Canavan, Achilleas Floudas, Douglas J. Veale and Ursula Fearon

A new method for quantitative assessment of hand muscle volume and fat in magnetic resonance images

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by systemic inflammation and bone and muscle loss. Recent research showed that obesity facilitates inflammation, but it is unknown if obesity also increases the risk ...

Authors: Andreas Friedberger, Camille Figueiredo, Tobias Bäuerle, Georg Schett and Klaus Engelke

Clinical and psychological phenomenology of pain in autoinflammatory diseases

Pain is the clinical hallmark of patients in patients with autoinflammatory diseases (AID) caused by variants of the NLRP3-, MEFV- or TNFRSF1A gene. However, no systematical analysis of the clinical and psycholog...

Authors: Elisabeth Mulazzani, Nicole Zolyniak, Elisabeth Noe, Matthias Mulazzani, Shahnaz Christina Azad, Tania Kümpfel and Eduard Kraft

Prevalence of musculoskeletal conditions and related disabilities in Bangladeshi adults: a cross-sectional national survey

Nationally representative data on burden of musculoskeletal conditions (MSK) in Bangladesh are not available. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of MSK conditions and related disabilit...

Authors: Ahmad Zahid-Al-Quadir, M. Mostafa Zaman, Shamim Ahmed, Mahfuzur Rahman Bhuiyan, Md Mujibur Rahman, Ismail Patwary, Bidhu Bhushan Das, Shaikh Amir Hossain, Sujat Paul, Abu Shahin, Moshiur Rahman and Syed Atiqul Haq

The development of rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis associated with both antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis and anti-glomerular basement membrane nephritis in the course of nontuberculous mycobacterium infection: a case report

Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) and Anti-glomerular basement membrane (GBM) antibodies often induce rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (RPGN). Some reports have demonstrated RPGN with the sequ...

Authors: Mikiya Kato, Risa Wakiya, Tomohiro Kameda, Kousuke Inoue, Tadashi Sofue, Yusuke Ushio, Koichi Sugihara, Shusaku Nakashima, Hiromi Shimada, Mai Mahmoud Fahmy Mansour, Norimitsu Kadowaki and Hiroaki Dobashi

A rare presentation of Takayasu’s arteritis- unilateral finger clubbing – case report

Takayasu’s arteritis (TA) is a granulomatous, large vessel vasculitis with a preponderance for young women. The inflammation results in disruption of the arterial endothelium causing stenosis, endoluminal thro...

Authors: Shania Niromi Gunasekera, Chirath Madurapperuma, Nilusha Weerasooriya, Harindra Karunathilake and Ananda Jayanaga

Prognostic factors for the short-term mortality of patients with rheumatoid arthritis admitted to intensive care units

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have high mortality risk and are frequently treated in intensive care units (ICUs).

Authors: Toshifumi Fujiwara, Kentaro Tokuda, Kenta Momii, Kyohei Shiomoto, Hidetoshi Tsushima, Yukio Akasaki, Satoshi Ikemura, Jun-ichi Fukushi, Jun Maki, Noriyuki Kaku, Tomohiko Akahoshi, Tomoaki Taguchi and Yasuharu Nakashima

Urinary soluble VCAM-1 is a useful biomarker of disease activity and treatment response in lupus nephritis

Vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) is involved in the progression of glomerular and tubulointerstitial injury in lupus nephritis (LN) and can be easily assessed in urine. The aim of this study was to a...

Authors: Andrese Aline Gasparin, Nicole Pamplona Bueno de Andrade, Vanessa Hax, Penélope Esther Palominos, Marina Siebert, Romulo Marx, Pedro Guilherme Schaefer, Francisco Veríssimo Veronese and Odirlei André Monticielo

Insights on mental health when living with rheumatoid arthritis: a descriptive qualitative study of threads on the Reddit website

Reddit is a highly visited social news and discussion website where individuals anonymously ask questions, post opinions and share experiences, which provide a valuable pool of publicly available data. Our obj...

Authors: Jamie Y. E. Park, Alyssa M. Howren, Eileen Davidson and Mary A. De Vera

Web-based information on the treatment of the mouth in systemic sclerosis

To categorise the content and assess the quality and readability of the web-based information regarding treatment of the mouth in systemic sclerosis.

Authors: Ismail Abdouh, Stephen Porter, Stefano Fedele, Nadia Elgendy and Richeal Ni Riordain

Mixed Cryoglobulinemia Syndrome (MCS) due to untreated hepatitis B with uncommon presentation: case report and literature review

The mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC) syndrome is a systemic inflammatory syndrome that causes small-to-medium vessel vasculitis due to cryoglobulin-containing immune complexes most commonly caused by chronic hepati...

Authors: Nasam Alfraji, Vandan D. Upadhyaya, Christopher Bekampis and Halyna Kuzyshyn

Long-term effectiveness and safety of infliximab and golimumab in ankylosing spondylitis patients from a Canadian prospective observational registry

The objectives of this study were to describe the profile of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients treated with either infliximab (IFX) or subcutaneous golimumab (GLM) treatment in Canadian routine care setting...

Authors: Proton Rahman, Michael Starr, Derek Haaland, Louis Bessette, Michelle Teo, Emmanouil Rampakakis, Allen J. Lehman and Francois Nantel

Longitudinal profiling of the gut microbiome in patients with psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis: a multicentre, prospective, observational study

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the skin affecting 2–3% of UK population. 30% of people affected by psoriasis will develop a distinct form of arthritis within 10 years of the skin condition onse...

Authors: Jesus Miguens Blanco, Federica Borghese, Neil McHugh, Peter Kelleher, Raj Sengupta, Julian R. Marchesi and Sonya Abraham

A systematic review of CXCL13 as a biomarker of disease and treatment response in rheumatoid arthritis

The B cell chemoattractant CXCL13 is a promising biomarker in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), with a plausible role in supporting diagnosis, monitoring disease activity and as a prognostic value. It is a key chemok...

Authors: Katie Bechman, Anthony Dalrymple, Charles Southey-Bassols, Andrew P. Cope and James B. Galloway

Rheumatic manifestations of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Different proportions of musculoskeletal or autoimmune manifestations associated with COVID-19 have been reported in literature. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis with the aim of assessing the...

Authors: Jacopo Ciaffi, Riccardo Meliconi, Piero Ruscitti, Onorina Berardicurti, Roberto Giacomelli and Francesco Ursini

The association between waiting time and multidisciplinary pain treatment outcomes in patients with rheumatic conditions

Access to multidisciplinary pain treatment facilities (MPTF) is limited by extensive waiting time in many countries. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the impact of waiting time on clinical outcomes,...

Authors: Simon Deslauriers, Jean-Sébastien Roy, Sasha Bernatsky, Debbie E. Feldman, Anne Marie Pinard, François Desmeules, Mary-Ann Fitzcharles and Kadija Perreault

Factors associated with disability in patients with rheumatoid arthritis with persistent moderate disease activity: a retrospective cohort study

Many patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) do not attain remission/low disease activity, remaining in a moderate disease activity state (MDAS) with ongoing disability and impaired quality of life (QoL). If p...

Authors: Ian C. Scott, Julie Mount, Jane Barry and Bruce Kirkham

Cardiovascular risk knowledge in patients of South Asian origin living with rheumatoid arthritis: data from India and the UK

South Asians have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) increases the risk of premature atherosclerosis. We investigated whether there was a substantial difference in the lev...

Authors: Kanta Kumar, Suvrat Arya, Peter Nightingale, Tom Sheeran and Amita Aggarwal

Ultrasound and multi-biomarker disease activity score for assessing and predicting clinical response to tofacitinib treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSUS) and the multi-biomarker disease activity (MBDA) score are outcome measures that may aid in the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. This study evaluated tofacitin...

Authors: Amir A. Razmjou, Jenny Brook, David Elashoff, Gurjit Kaeley, Soo Choi, Tanaz Kermani and Veena K. Ranganath

E-consults: an effective way to decrease clinic wait times in rheumatology

To evaluate the effect of E-consults on wait times and resource utilization for positive antinuclear antibody (ANA) referrals in outpatient rheumatology.

Authors: Veena Patel, Diana Stewart and Molly J. Horstman

Physical activity in established rheumatoid arthritis and variables associated with maintenance of physical activity over a seven-year period – a longitudinal observational study

A large number of patients with RA do not adhere to the recommended levels of physical activity to enhance health. According to EULAR recommendations, physical activity should be part of standard care in peopl...

Authors: Ann Bremander, Karina Malm and Maria L. Andersson

Serum protein biomarkers for juvenile dermatomyositis: a pilot study

Blood accessible biomarkers to assess disease activity and their response to therapies in Juvenile Dermatomyositis (JDM) are urgently needed. This pilot study aims to identify serum protein biomarkers associat...

Authors: Shefa M. Tawalbeh, Wilfredo Marin, Gabrielle A. Morgan, Utkarsh J. Dang, Yetrib Hathout and Lauren M. Pachman

Association of lifestyle elements with self-rated wellness and health status in patients with Behcet’s disease

Assessment of the association of various lifestyle factors and wellness and health status in patients with Behcet’s disease was the main goal of this study.

Authors: Maryam Masoumi, Reihane Tabaraii, Saeed Shakiba, Mansoureh Shakeri and Abbas Smiley

Hepatitis E Virus and rheumatic diseases: what do rheumatologists need to know?

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) represents the most common cause of acute hepatitis and jaundice in the world. About 2 million of infection cases occur each year in Europe, mainly as autochthonous anthropozoonosis, an...

Authors: Salvatore Di Bartolomeo, Francesco Carubbi and Paola Cipriani

Patient insights on living with idiopathic inflammatory myopathy and the limitations of disease activity measurement methods – a qualitative study

The idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs) are chronic autoimmune conditions, typically resulting in proximal muscle weakness and impacting upon quality of life. Accurate measurement of IIM disease activity...

Authors: Alexander Oldroyd, William Dixon, Hector Chinoy and Kelly Howells

Long-term effectiveness and safety of infliximab, golimumab and golimumab-IV in rheumatoid arthritis patients from a Canadian prospective observational registry

Long-term clinical registries are essential tools to evaluate new therapies in a patient population that differs from those in randomized clinical trials. The objectives are to describe the profile of rheumato...

Authors: Proton Rahman, Philip Baer, Ed Keystone, Denis Choquette, Carter Thorne, Boulos Haraoui, Andrew Chow, Rafat Faraawi, Wojciech Olszynski, John Kelsall, Emmanouil Rampakakis, Allen J. Lehman and Francois Nantel

Pembrolizumab on pre-existing inclusion body myositis: a case report

Cases of exacerbation of pre-existing neuromuscular diseases induced by immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have rarely been reported because patients with autoimmune diseases have generally been excluded from...

Authors: Naohiro Uchio, Atsushi Unuma, Toshiyuki Kakumoto, Masao Osaki, Yoshitaka Zenke, Kenichi Sakuta, Akatsuki Kubota, Yoshikazu Uesaka, Tatsushi Toda and Jun Shimizu

Elucidation of predictors of disease progression in patients with relapsing polychondritis at the onset: potential impact on patient monitoring

In patients with relapsing polychondritis (RP), organ involvement developed in those with progressive and/or long disease courses. For their management, elucidation of a subgroup suggesting disease progression...

Authors: Jun Shimizu, Yoshihisa Yamano, Kimito Kawahata and Noboru Suzuki

Impact of tumor necrosis factor inhibitors and methotrexate on diabetes mellitus among patients with inflammatory arthritis

To determine whether initiation of a tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) or methotrexate improves hemoglobin A1c in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), or ankylosing spondyli...

Authors: Santhi Mantravadi, Michael George, Colleen Brensinger, Min Du, Joshua F. Baker and Alexis Ogdie

Serum 20S proteasome levels are associated with disease activity in MPO-ANCA-associated microscopic polyangiitis

Proteasomes are found in both the cell nucleus and cytoplasm and play a major role in the ubiquitin-dependent and -independent non-lysosomal pathways of intracellular protein degradation. Proteasomes are also ...

Authors: Hiroshi Maruyama, Kouichi Hirayama, Marina Yamashita, Kentaro Ohgi, Ryuji Tsujimoto, Mamiko Takayasu, Homare Shimohata and Masaki Kobayashi

Halo score (temporal artery, its branches and axillary artery) as a diagnostic, prognostic and disease monitoring tool for Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA)

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a common large vessel vasculitis of the elderly, often associated with sight loss. Glucocorticoids (GC remain the mainstay of treatment, although biologic treatments have been app...

Authors: Alwin Sebastian, Kornelis S. M. van der Geest, Fiona Coath, Prisca Gondo, Abdul Kayani, Craig Mackerness, Bernard Hadebe, Sue Innes, Jo Jackson and Bhaskar Dasgupta

The impact of gout as described by patients, using the lens of The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF): a qualitative study

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) aims to comprehensively describe the ways in which a person’s health condition affects their life. This study aimed to contribute to...

Authors: Isobel Cairns, Karen Lindsay, Nicola Dalbeth, Cesar Díaz-Torné, Maria Antònia Pou, Basilio Rodríguez Diez, Enriqueta Pujol-Ribera, Charlotte Panter, Rob Arbuckle, Sophi Tatlock and William J. Taylor

Use of rituximab in idiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis

Retroperitoneal fibrosis (RPF) is characterized by the proliferation of fibrous tissue in the retroperitoneum. The majority of RPF cases are due to idiopathic or IgG4-related disease. Recent studies on IgG4-re...

Authors: Veronika Boyeva, Hatim Alabsi, Michael A. Seidman, Ryan Paterson, Jason Kur, Luke Y. C. Chen, Silvia D. Chang and Mollie Carruthers

Immune checkpoint inhibitor-induced inflammatory arthritis: a qualitative study identifying unmet patient needs and care gaps

Patients treated for cancer with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) may develop autoimmune adverse events, including ICI-induced inflammatory arthritis (IA). ICI-induced IA treatment requires balancing immune ...

Authors: Laura C. Cappelli, Suzanne M. Grieb, Ami A. Shah, Clifton O. Bingham III and Ana-Maria Orbai

Room for improvement in non-pharmacological systemic sclerosis care? — a cross-sectional online survey of 650 patients

To gain insight in the use of current systemic sclerosis (SSc) care provided by health professionals from the patient perspective. We focused on referral reasons, treatment goals, the alignment with unmet care...

Authors: Juliane K. Stöcker, Madelon C. Vonk, Frank H. J. van den Hoogen, Maria W. G. Nijhuis-van der Sanden, Julia Spierings, J. Bart Staal, Ton Satink and Cornelia H. M. van den Ende

The pharmacological and clinical aspects behind dose loading of biological disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) in auto-immune rheumatic diseases (AIRDs): rationale and systematic narrative review of clinical evidence

Dose loading of biological disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) in auto-immune rheumatic diseases (AIRDs) is performed to achieve steady state drug concentrations earlier after treatment start comp...

Authors: Gerlienke E. Geurts-Voerman, Lise M. Verhoef, Bart J. F. van den Bemt and Alfons A. den Broeder

Vitamin D and early rheumatoid arthritis

Previous studies have linked rheumatoid arthritis (RA) risk and disease activity with vitamin D-deficiency (low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD)), but a causal role for vitamin D in RA is still unclear, with ...

Authors: Stephanie R. Harrison, Gurpreet Jutley, Danyang Li, Ilfita Sahbudin, Andrew Filer, Martin Hewison and Karim Raza

The association between rheumatoid arthritis and periodontal disease in a population-based cross-sectional case-control study

The association between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and periodontitis remains unclear.

Authors: Stefan Renvert, Johan Sanmartin Berglund, G. Rutger Persson and Maria K. Söderlin

Line blot immunoassays in idiopathic inflammatory myopathies: retrospective review of diagnostic accuracy and factors predicting true positive results

Line blot immunoassays (LIA) for myositis-specific (MSA) and myositis-associated (MAA) autoantibodies have become commercially available. In the largest study of this kind, we evaluated the clinical performanc...

Authors: Fergus To, Clara Ventín-Rodríguez, Shuayb Elkhalifa, James B. Lilleker and Hector Chinoy

Oral Abstracts of scientific contributions to GCOM 2019

Authors:

First-year drug therapy of new-onset rheumatoid and undifferentiated arthritis: a nationwide register-based study

In this retrospective cohort study, we evaluated the drug therapies used for early rheumatoid (RA) and undifferentiated (UA) arthritis patients.

Authors: Paula Muilu, Vappu Rantalaiho, Hannu Kautiainen, Lauri J. Virta, Johan G. Eriksson and Kari Puolakka

Patient-Initiated Follow-Up (PIFU) as reorganized support for increased patient involvement – focus group discussions among patients’ with inflammatory arthritis

Inflammatory Arthritis is characterized by lifelong medical treatment and an unpredictable trajectory because of the fluctuating nature of the diseases. Proactive disease management is recommended, which inclu...

Authors: Bianca Bech, Jens Jørgen Lykkegaard, Tine Lundbak, Heidi Morsø Schrøder, Line Mette Birkeland, Mette Lund Schlyter, Lotte Hanne Hansen, Lillian Dalsgaard and Bente Appel Esbensen

Initial seronegative immune-mediated necrotising myopathy with subsequent anti-HMGCR antibody development and response to rituximab: case report

Immune-mediated necrotising myopathy (IMNM) is characterised by severe muscle weakness and necrosis with a paucity of inflammation on muscle biopsy. Around 60% of cases are associated with antibodies to the si...

Authors: Rhys Thomas, Su-Ann Yeoh, Rupert Berkeley, Andrew Woods, Mike Stevens, Silvia Marino and Aleksandar Radunovic

Points to consider in cardiovascular disease risk management among patients with rheumatoid arthritis living in South Africa, an unequal middle income country

It is plausible that optimal cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk management differs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) from low or middle income compared to high income populations. This study aimed at p...

Authors: Ahmed Solomon, Anne E. Stanwix, Santos Castañeda, Javier Llorca, Carlos Gonzalez-Juanatey, Bridget Hodkinson, Benitha Romela, Mahmood M. T. M. Ally, Ajesh B. Maharaj, Elsa M. Van Duuren, Joyce J. Ziki, Mpoti Seboka, Makgotso Mohapi, Barend J. Jansen Van Rensburg, Gareth S. Tarr, Kavita Makan…

Real-world questions and concerns about disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs): a retrospective analysis of questions to a medicine call center

Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) have transformed the treatment of numerous autoimmune and inflammatory diseases but their perceived risk of harm may be a barrier to use.

Authors: Hiba EL Masri, Samantha A. Hollingworth, Mieke van Driel, Helen Benham and Treasure M. McGuire