Rheumatoid Arthritis

Biologic Use for Arthritis Linked With Depression and Anxiety

Save

Jack Cush, MD

Oct 20, 2020

In a recent study of patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases, the initiation of a biologic treatment or switching to another biologic was associated with an increased likelihood of the use of antidepressants and anxiolytics, reported Petros P. Sfikakis, MD, of the National and Kapodistrian

Read Article

Study of seropositivity in RA patients in the RISE (43,581) registry & Marketscan pts (1185) showed ICD10 Coding with M05 had a sensitivity = 0.73- 0.76, & PPV = 0.82 -0.84 for seropositive RA.

Links:

https://bit.ly/359hPUZ

Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)

Oct 20, 2020

SELECT CHOICE, H2H study of UPA vs ABA in TNF-IR RA pts; UPA had better DAS28-CRP & ABA had better Safety outcomes; Which would you use?

Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)

Oct 19, 2020

QD Clinics - Vignette Lessons from Rheum Clinic. Week 2: choosing IL-1 inhibitors, burnt out RA or not RA, trigger fingers, peripheral SpA, Gout or not?

Links:

Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)

Oct 19, 2020

TNF Inhibitors or non-TNF Biologics - First Best Choice?

Save

Jack Cush, MD

Oct 18, 2020

Prospective observational findings from the CORRONA registry of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients compared clinical outcomes between initial aggressive therapy using either a tumour necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) or a non-TNFi (biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) and

Read Article

RheumNow Podcast – Good Time Charlie…. (10.16.20)

Save

Jack Cush, MD

Oct 15, 2020

Dr. Jack Cush sings the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com.

Read Article

Juvenile localized scleroderma was Rx w/ MTX or MMF (in MTX refractory) and compared retrospectively. Facial linear scler. more likely in MTX pts and MMF pts had pansclerotic morphea or mixed subtype.

Links:

https://bit.ly/2GVzNCq

Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)

Oct 15, 2020

Abatacept vs. Upadacitinib in Biologic Refractory Rheumatoid Arthritis

Save

Jack Cush, MD

Oct 15, 2020

NEJM reports the results of the SELECT-Choice trial, a head to head study of upadacitinib (UPA) and abatacept (ABA) in biologic refractory rheumatoid arthritis (RA); 12 weeks results showed UPA was significantly more clinically effective than ABA using a DAS28-CRP remission, but ABA had fewer

Read Article

EUSTAR study of ILD in systemic sclerosis: 826 pts with SSc-ILD finds 27% with progressive ILD (mod-severe FVC decline >5-10%) over 12 mos. Predictive factors for FVC decline over 5 yrs were male sex, higher mRSS skin score and reflux/dysphagia symptoms.

Links:

https://bit.ly/3lVG53P

Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)

Oct 15, 2020

ICI Arthritis Tied to Cancer Progression

Save

Oct 14, 2020

Cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) who develop severe arthritis may be at risk for progression of the malignancy, a single-center study suggested.

Almost 90% of patients treated with ICI develop immune-related adverse events, which can include pulmonary,

Read Article

Tofacitinib and Thromboembolic Risk

Save

Jack Cush, MD

Oct 13, 2020

Mease and colleagues have reviewed the tofacitinib drug development and clinical trial data, finding the risk of venous (VTE) and arterial thromboembolism (ATE) to be low and augmented in patients with baseline cardiovascular abd VTE risk factors and those taking higher doses of tofacitinib (

Read Article

Study of 196 RA pts shows lung Dz common by chest CT, regardless of serostatus. RA lung=higher mortality (HR of 5.3). RA lung dz found in 28%; 16% had ILD, 14% bronchiectasis, 9.5% w pleural dz.

Links:

https://bit.ly/36Qm76a

Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)

Oct 12, 2020

Study of 5792 RA pts from 11 RCTs compared ACR Boolean remission with (4V) or without Pt Global scores (3V) using Xray & functional outcomes.

Links:

https://bit.ly/2GLP6gM

Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)

Oct 12, 2020

Thrombotic Risk in Rheumatoid Arthritis Linked to Disease Activity

Save

Jack Cush, MD

Oct 11, 2020

A large RA cohort study from the Swedish Rheumatology Quality Register shows a higher risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and that risk is linked to RA disease activity.

Read Article

RheumNow Podcast – Bad Disease & Bad Outcomes (10.9.20)

Save

Jack Cush, MD

Oct 08, 2020

Dr. Jack Cush Reviews the news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.

Read Article

Study of 222 RA pts on MTX given anti-GMCSF (otilimab) 22·5 mg, 45 mg, 90 mg, 135 mg, 180 mg, or PBO weekly x 5 wks, then EOW. @wk 24 DAS28-CRP <2·6 5%, 16%. 19%, 14%, 14% respectively and 3% in PBO. Otilimab failed to meet primary endpoint.

Links:

https://bit.ly/3iDrecc

Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)

Oct 08, 2020

Lockdown worsening; UK survey 678 patients musculoskeletal diseases pts in late April 2020 shows 53% worsening of Sx; 1/3 had clinic/hosp access probs problems & most (88%) had no probs w/ getting meds; but 44% needed others to help them get meds.

Links:

https://bit.ly/2GmALax

Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)

Oct 07, 2020

1) If you are have diffuse scleroderma and have previously participated in a clinical trial, we need your help! You will be asked to watch video tutorial and answer a survey which will take you 20 minutes to complete. the study is supported by @WeAreSRUK @scleroderma @srfcure

Dr. Dinesh Khanna sclerodermaUM ( View Tweet)

Oct 06, 2020

Incredible lecture on the highest of therapeutics for rheumatoid arthritis by @BrighamWomens Dr Michael Weinblatt. Love this screen shot of A to Z for therapies prior to the methotrexate era. Z=Zero therapy (do nothing). Incredible advances since then!

Jeff Sparks jeffsparks ( View Tweet)

Oct 06, 2020

Oral Dysbiosis May Antedate Rheumatoid Arthritis

Save

Jack Cush, MD

Oct 06, 2020

A study of oral microbiome in anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) positive at-risk individuals without synovitis (CCP+at risk) shows dysbiotic subgingival microbiomes and increased abundance of P. gingivalis compared with controls.

Read Article

"Prednisone >30 mg/day for > 4 weeks, patients should be on PJP prophylaxis." Image shows when to start/stop PJP prophylaxis Dr. Kevin Winthrop on Risks/Prevention of OI @UTSWRheum Grand Rounds @rheumnow https://t.co/nXuWYRxbgy

k dao KDAO2011 ( View Tweet)

Oct 05, 2020

Utilization study of 1031 tofacitinib vs 17,803 biologic DMARD Rx-patients shows 14% higher discontinuations w/ TOFA (HR 1.14), but pts who switched to tofacitinib from a bDMARD had longer persistence than pts switched to another bDMARD (HR 0.90) https://t.co/5cqloT

Links:

https://bit.ly/3nkAANg

Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)

Oct 05, 2020

Hellenic reigstry of 385 RA pts on DMARDs finds that, compared to remission or LDAS - those in persistent moderated disease activity had 50-80% more serious adverse events. https://t.co/3JA3VaMxeO

Links:

https://bit.ly/3jAyXcc

Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)

Oct 05, 2020

Danish comparison of 15K RA, 301K Diabetes adn 75K gen population; RA assoc w/ increased risk of CHF (HR 1.51), MI (HR 1.58), stroke (HR 1.22) vs gen. population; but RA had 20-40% lower CHF/MI/CVA than diabetes pts (who had highest 10 yr mortality).

Links: