The team then sent follow-up requests to participants who reported problems.

There were no between-group differences at either timepoint for health-related quality of life, depression or fatigue.

Who should we treat?

Rates of disease flare requiring treatment were 4.5% in people who discontinued for at least 10 days, 9.5% for those with a shorter duration of discontinuation, and 6.8% for those who continued treatment.

The study, published in The Lancet Rheumatology , included 158 participants treated with cyclophosphamide or placebo in SLS I and 142 participants who were given cyclophosphamide or mycophenolate mofetil in SLS II.

Findings from two studies highlight the need for interventions to improve gender equity in academic rheumatology career advancement and on journal editorial boards.

“A reason for this could be the unavailability of particular treatment options in the UK National Health Service,” they note.

Phase 2 trial results suggest that low-dose interleukin-2 therapy with aldesleukin may represent a promising add-on treatment option for systemic lupus erythematosus.

The nested case-control study included 10,475 people with newly diagnosed gout and a subsequent CV event (acute myocardial infarction [MI] or stroke) and 52,099 matched individuals without CV events who were included in a UK primary care database between 1997 and 2020.

Adverse events were reported by 90% of participants who received botulinum toxin A and 80% of those who received placebo, most commonly base-of-thumb pain (20 vs 37%), thenar muscle motor deficit (47 vs 7%), and other musculoskeletal pain (17 vs 20%).

In addition, a significantly higher proportion of patients who continued methotrexate achieved CDAI low disease activity (≤10 points) at week 16 relative to those who did not receive background methotrexate, at 8.8% versus 1.8%.

EULAR has put forward “points to consider” that aim to guide the integration of telehealth into rheumatology clinical practice.

These improvements were significantly greater than that seen among people included in quartile 1, who had the lowest level of vitamin K intake, at an average reduction of 112.9.

An in-depth molecular analysis of synovial biopsies from people with rheumatoid arthritis who participated in the R4RA trial has identified gene signatures associated with treatment response.

Incidence rates were highest in patients who had intermediate and high 10-year risks for ASCVD, at a corresponding 2.5 and 1.3 per 100 person–years in patients with PsA and 1.3 and 3.6 per 100 person–years in those with psoriasis, but there was no “clear dose–response relationship,” said Kristensen.

The tumor necrosis factor inhibitor adalimumab does not improve pain or function in people with knee osteoarthritis, indicate phase 2 trial results.

“Participants who did not progress to arthritis almost had a complete relief of pain and nearly returned to the normal range of MRI-detected inflammation that can be found in symptom-free controls,” she noted.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a considerable impact on rheumatology training and research opportunities, suggest findings from an international survey study by the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance.

Participants who felt insufficiently informed were 41.8%, 67.6%, and 83.7% among seniors, specialists, and fellows, respectively.

A monthly selection of topical peer-reviewed articles from the Adis journals, curated by the editors.