In an efficacy and safety study of guselkumab, patients with active psoriatic arthritis taking guselkumab showed continued skin clearance and joint symptom relief, as well as statistically significant inhibition of joint damage, after two years.
In their new study, Fike et al. found Latino patients with rheumatic diseases have a higher rate of COVID-19 than the general Latino population. Obesity is a risk factor for COVID-19, and COVID-19 is a risk factor for rheumatic disease flare.
Vision loss, implications of treatment and more—Sarah Mackie, BMBCh, PhD, MRCP, discussed the latest research on the evaluation and management of giant cell arteritis.
Convex-walking shoes, dietary supplements, advancements in nerve growth factor inhibitors and more—Xavier Chevalier gave an overview and new insights into treatments for osteoarthritis.
The use of biosimilar treatments is increasing, according to surveys conducted in 2018 and 2020 of rheumatologists from eight countries. In the two-year period, Japan had the largest increase in biosimilar prescriptions, with only 6% of surveyed rheumatologists reporting they prefer prescribing originator biologic agents.
Laura Coates, MBChB, MRCP, PhD, described & compared the intricacies of different outcome measures, as well as implications for clinical practice & trials, for patients with psoriatic arthritis.
(Reuters)—Pfizer Inc. said on June 16 its oral rheumatoid arthritis (RA) drug Xeljanz (tofacitinib) reduced death or respiratory failure in hospitalized COVID-19 patients with pneumonia in Brazil, meeting the study’s main goal. Results of the study, which tested the drug in 289 hospitalized adult patients with the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus, were published…
(Reuters Health)—Young and middle-aged adults with polymyositis-dermatomyositis are more likely to have arrhythmias in general, and supraventricular arrhythmias in particular, than matched controls without these rare rheumatic conditions, a U.S. study suggests.1 Researchers examined retrospective data on adults hospitalized between 2016 and 2018, including 32,085 patients with polymyositis-dermatomyositis and 320,850 age-matched controls. Overall, both women…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Rituximab seemed to be a safe and effective treatment for systemic sclerosis (SSc) in a placebo-controlled validation trial in Japan.1 “A number of studies have examined B-cell depletion therapy for systemic sclerosis, and many of them have suggested that [this] is effective in treating systemic sclerosis,” Ayumi Yoshizaki, MD, tells Reuters Health…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Non-surgical care for knee osteoarthritis (OA) is uncommon among older adults, especially in regions of the U.S. where total knee arthroplasty rates are high, a large retrospective analysis shows.1 “As rheumatologists, we often think of knee arthroplasty as the last resort, after patients have tried and failed more conservative treatments, such as…