Hispanic and Asian people with systemic lupus erythematosus are at significantly greater risk for developing renal, hematologic, and multiorgan disease than their White counterparts, US study findings indicate.

Study findings published in Rheumatology show that long-term use of colchicine is associated with a decreased risk for adverse renal outcomes in people with hyperuricemia or chronic gout and stage G3–G4 chronic kidney disease.

In this trial, the addition of plasma exchange to standard therapy did not reduce the risk for all-cause mortality or end-stage renal disease (ESRD), but a reduced-dose regimen of glucocorticoids was found to decrease the risk for serious infections relative to a standard-dose regimen.

Plasma exchange is associated with a reduced risk for end-stage renal disease but an increased risk for serious infection in people with anti-neutrophil cytoplasm antibody-associated vasculitis, meta-analysis data show.

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

How can rheumatologists respond to the challenges associated with rituximab use during the pandemic?

As reported in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, the researchers analyzed data from 280,892 individuals in the European Renal Association Registry who received kidney replacement therapy (KRT) for kidney failure between 1992 and 2016.

A substantial proportion of patients with lupus nephritis from a US study continued to accrue renal damage despite being classified as having a complete response to standard therapy based on proteinuric criteria.

The outcomes for complete renal response rate will be available at the end of the study when the additional components of this composite outcome have been evaluated, Saxena commented.

3–9 November: Keep up with the latest news and interviews from the conference.

Perspective on the approval of anifrolumab and the importance of endpoints in lupus trials.

5 – 9 November: Preview the conference with session recommendations and updates on upcoming coverage.

How will the FAST trial results impact regulatory guidance & clinical practice?

Experts discuss the increasing use of telemedicine in rheumatology during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Due to the potential consequence of AKI in terms of mortality and renal impairment, physicians should take the present signal into account when prescribing febuxostat or allopurinol,” suggest the researchers who highlight that “[u]ntil the present […] study, the risk of AKI associated with allopurinol and febuxostat had been underestimated.”

They add that “data regarding the optimal duration and timing of discontinuation of therapy in both renal and extrarenal disease are scarce.”

Editorial Board member Fernando Pérez-Ruiz discusses the impact of hyperuricemia in cardiometabolic and chronic kidney disease, focusing on the role of genetic studies in showing a causal association between these conditions.

Even if a causal association were to be demonstrated, robust intervention trials would be required to show that treatment of hyperuricemia reduces the risk for undesirable renal or cardiovascular outcomes, in order to justify prescription of urate-lowering therapies.

They found that, at this lower dose, allopurinol had no significant association with renal function decline.

Allopurinol, given at a starting dose of at least 300 mg/day, does not increase the risk for chronic kidney disease stage 3 or higher, and may in fact reduce it, in patients with newly diagnosed gout, study data show.