Vaccines are often safe for rheumatology patients, but precautions may be needed, said Brian Schwartz, MD, at the 2019 ACR State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium…


Vaccines are often safe for rheumatology patients, but precautions may be needed, said Brian Schwartz, MD, at the 2019 ACR State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium…
Will Boggs MD |
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Monotherapy with the JAK1-selective inhibitor upadacitinib is effective in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis who have an inadequate response to methotrexate, according to results from the SELECT-MONOTHERAPY phase 3 trial. As many as two-thirds of patients with rheumatoid arthritis receiving methotrexate monotherapy fail to achieve satisfactory disease control. Oral therapy with upadacitinib…

SNOWMASS VILLAGE, COLO.—Even in the era of treat to target, cardiovascular disease risk remains elevated and is a major source of mortality and morbidity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Screening and management of cardiovascular risk in these patients is critical to ensure these patients are identified and treated. At the 2019 ACR Winter Rheumatology…

A Milwaukee rheumatologist delivered lectures, participated in Grand Rounds and consulted on rheumatology treatment strategies during his visit this winter to the Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS), Nepal. Paul Halverson, MD, affiliated with Froedtert Hospital and the Medical College of Wisconsin, says the several days he spent in Patan, Nepal, adjacent to Kathmandu and…

In the past decade, the treat-to-target concept has gained broad acceptance. Both the ACR and European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) management recommendations include adding biologic therapies to the treatment regimen for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients who do not sufficiently respond to methotrexate monotherapy. “What EULAR says is that if [methotrexate use fails], you should essentially…

Involving pharmacists in the management of chronic diseases benefits patients, says Wendy Ramey, BSPharm, RPh, CSP, a clinical pharmacy specialist in rheumatology at the University of Kentucky, Lexington. She knows this personally. As someone with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Ms. Ramey knows pharmacists can play an important role in patient education and encouraging adherence to medications….

Psoriatic arthritis came to be viewed as a distinct disease entity with specific clinical features, genetics and pathophysiology only gradually. One important historic development in this transition was a 1973 paper written by a pair of researchers out of Leeds, England: John M. Moll, BSc, DM, and Verna Wright, MD, FRCP.1 Here we discuss the…
A group led by Sarah Ringold, MD, MS, assistant professor of rheumatology at Seattle Children’s Hospital, has developed a new guideline intended to provide recommendations for the treatment and monitoring of children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) manifesting as non-systemic polyarthritis, sacroiliitis or enthesitis.1,2 Key Updates The new recommendations appear in both Arthritis & Rheumatology…

As soon as pediatric patients are diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), they should also be screened for uveitis, says ophthalmologist Gary Holland, MD. Otherwise, the University of California, Los Angeles, provider says, “Kids who are diagnosed with JIA may not come to an ophthalmologist until they have vision-limiting complications.” Uveitis is the most common…

A post-hoc analysis of data from two large clinical trials supports treat-to-target recommendations for patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The research found baseline disease activity was the strongest predictor of a patient’s insufficient response to initial therapy at six months…