ACR CONVERGENCE 2020—Held Nov. 5–9, the ACR’s first fully virtual annual meeting provided participants with a vast repository of new research related to rheumatoid arthritis (RA). To help you sort through the noise, Elizabeth (Blair) Solow, MD, an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Rheumatic Diseases at UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, offered …
In light of the release of the ACR’s new gout guideline, it’s not surprising that 50 abstracts of studies on various aspects of gout were accepted at ACR Convergence 2020. Here, we highlight just a few:
ACR Convergence 2020—In May 2020, the ACR published its updated guideline for the management of gout.1 It followed on the heels of a 2017 gout guideline published by the American College of Physicians.2 Although the guidelines provide similar recommendations on the treatment of acute gout, they differ importantly in the use of uric acid-lowering therapy…
ACR CONVERGENCE 2020—The results of a post-authorization study comparing the cardiovascular safety of febuxostat vs. allopurinol were presented in a late-breaking abstract session at the ACR’s fully virtual annual meeting on Monday, Nov. 9. Cardiologist Thomas MacDonald, MD, FRCP, MBChB, clinical professor (teaching and research) of molecular and clinical medicine, University of Dundee School of…
Presidential Gold Medal The highest award the ACR can bestow, the Presidential Gold Medal is awarded in recognition of outstanding achievements in rheumatology over an entire career. This year’s award went to James O’Dell, MD, the Stokes-Shackleford Professor of Internal Medicine, vice chair of internal medicine and chief of the Division of Rheumatology at the…
ACR Convergence 2020—At two plenary sessions, speakers highlighted key findings, including results on the QTc interval in patients on hydroxychloroquine, and data from a study on denosumab vs. alendronate for glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis. The QTc Interval & Hydroxychloroquine The safety profile and optimal dosing of hydroxychloroquine has been a topic for decades because it is known…
ACR CONVERGENCE 2020—At the ACR’s fully virtual annual meeting on Saturday, Nov. 7, Anthony S. Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) since 1984, delivered a special lecture on COVID-19, from virology to therapy to vaccine development. Novel Coronavirus, Familiar Vectors When Chinese physicians first reported infections by what…
ACR CONVERGENCE 2020—The ACR’s first fully virtual annual meeting kicked off on Thursday, Nov. 5. During the Opening Session, ACR President Ellen M. Gravallese, MD, talked about how the specialty’s response during the pandemic has provided great hope and will help rheumatology become an even more essential specialty. At the first Plenary Session on Friday,…
A 2019 study demonstrated the benefit of a newer drug class, PCSK9 inhibitors, to help lower cholesterol in patients with statin-associated immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy…
Physical inactivity significantly affects disease burden and reduces the overall quality of life in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA), according to a study from Losina et al. The researchers calculated the total quality-adjusted life-years lost for U.S. patients with OA due to inactivity.