Diagnosis and screening

Classifying individuals with musculoskeletal symptoms and no clinical synovitis using anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody levels and self-reported hand or foot pain may be useful to prioritize rheumatology referrals, study findings indicate.

Individuals with a wide range of anti-modified protein antibodies experience higher rates of early radiographic progression than those with just a single antibody type, show data from the Scottish Early Rheumatoid Arthritis inception cohort.

Among patients with longstanding rheumatoid arthritis or psoriatic arthritis, having tenderness in non-swollen joints is not significantly associated with the presence of active inflammation as measured by power Doppler ultrasound, researchers report.

People with rheumatoid arthritis who visit a rheumatologist within the first 6 weeks of experiencing symptoms are more likely to achieve sustained DMARD-free remission than those who wait for 7–12 weeks, suggest observational study results.

Nathan Foulquier and Alain Saraux evaluate the use of machine learning for the classification and diagnosis of rheumatic diseases.

Study results contradict suggestions that the routine use of ultrasound to target imaging remission in early rheumatoid arthritis provides additional benefit over achieving clinical remission.

Changes in joint erosion and osteitis, detected by magnetic resonance imaging as early as 1 month after treatment initiation, may predict long-term radiographic progression in people with early, active rheumatoid arthritis, research shows.