Connective tissue diseases

Among patients with active rheumatoid arthritis, adding tumor necrosis factor inhibitors to methotrexate is associated with a similar reduction in vascular inflammation to that seen with add-on sulfasalazine plus hydroxychloroquine, suggest findings from a randomized controlled trial.

People with late-onset rheumatoid arthritis have a similar likelihood of achieving remission as those with earlier-onset disease, indicating that treatment goals should be the same in both populations, researchers report.

In one of two Great Debate sessions at ACR Convergence 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, two experts teamed up to provide opposing stands on whether now is the right time to be treating people at risk for rheumatoid arthritis in the preclinical stages of the condition in order to prevent disease onset.

Among patients with active rheumatoid arthritis, adding tumor necrosis factor inhibitors to methotrexate is associated with a similar reduction in vascular inflammation to that seen with add-on sulfasalazine plus hydroxychloroquine, suggest findings from a randomized controlled trial.

People with late-onset rheumatoid arthritis have a similar likelihood of achieving remission as those with earlier-onset disease, indicating that treatment goals should be the same in both populations, researchers report.

In one of two Great Debate sessions at ACR Convergence 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, two experts teamed up to provide opposing stands on whether now is the right time to be treating people at risk for rheumatoid arthritis in the preclinical stages of the condition in order to prevent disease onset.

An exploratory analysis of data from the phase 2b BEAT LUPUS trial suggests that IgA2 anti-dsDNA antibody levels may be able to predict response to B cell-targeted therapies in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Addition of the recombinant fusion protein telitacicept to standard care may reduce disease activity and is well tolerated in people with systemic lupus erythematosus, research suggests.

Achievement of LLDAS is associated with a significant reduction in mortality risk among people with systemic lupus erythematosus, study findings suggest.