2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting: Research news

Findings from a randomized controlled trial suggest that glucocorticoid tapering is a feasible strategy for rheumatoid arthritis patients who achieve low disease activity or remission during treatment with tocilizumab and long-term glucocorticoids.

Treatment with ustekinumab may be beneficial for some patients with psoriatic arthritis and spondylitis, suggests a post-hoc subgroup analysis of the PSUMMIT 1 and 2 trials.

Findings from two phase III trials presented at the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois, USA, demonstrate that treatment with the JAK inhibitor peficitinib may be beneficial for patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Findings from the COAST-W trial provide support for the IL-17A inhibitor ixekizumab as a treatment option for patients with ankylosing spondylitis and a previous inadequate response or intolerance to TNF inhibitor treatment.

Vascular ultrasound could be a contender as a first-line imaging test for diagnosing large vessel giant cell arteritis, suggests research.

Researchers have developed two polygenic risk scores to identify individuals at high risk for ankylosing spondylitis.

Greater increases in bone mineral density seen with denosumab versus risedronate in glucocorticoid-treated patients with osteoporosis are sustained through 24 months, indicate phase III data.

Etanercept has greater efficacy than methotrexate for the treatment of psoriatic arthritis, suggest phase III trial results presented at the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Patients with osteoarthritis who have degenerative meniscal tear experience pain relief with either physical therapy or arthroscopic partial meniscectomy, show 5-year MeTeOR data.

The selective janus kinase 1 inhibitor filgotinib has shown efficacy in patients with psoriatic arthritis with no new safety signals, show phase II data from the EQUATOR study.

Phase III trial results indicate that ixekizumab may be a promising treatment option for biologic-naïve patients with ankylosing spondylitis and an inadequate response or intolerance to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

Moderate-to-high rheumatoid arthritis disease activity is associated with a twofold increased risk for associated interstitial lung disease, compared with remission or low disease activity, study findings show.

Findings from a small study suggest that treatment with the interleukin-17A inhibitor secukinumab may be a promising strategy to reduce inflammation in psoriasis patients with subclinical peripheral joint involvement.

Researchers have characterized rheumatic immune-related adverse events that occur in patients with cancer who are undergoing treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Imaging with a combined positron emission tomography and computed tomography scanner shows good accuracy for diagnosing giant cell arteritis versus the gold-standard temporal artery biopsy.

Individuals who carry the MUC5B promoter variant rs35705950 have an elevated risk for rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease, researchers report.

The increased risk for herpes zoster in rheumatoid arthritis patients taking tofacitinib is further doubled with the concomitant use of glucocorticoids, show real-world data for more than 8000 patients.

An online self-referral strategy for axial spondyloarthritis could raise awareness of the condition and improve early diagnosis, suggest findings from the OptiRef study.

Administration of a high-dose influenza vaccine results in an improved humoral immune response when given to patients with rheumatoid arthritis, suggest findings from a randomized controlled trial.