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?

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.

For the iFAME-Fertility study, 628 men aged at least 40 years with spondyloarthritis (50.96%), rheumatoid arthritis (47.29%), or juvenile idiopathic arthritis (1.59%) who indicated that their family size was complete took part in a questionnaire on fertility rates, family planning, and fertility problems.

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.

They investigated the ability of two such algorithms – QRISK3 and the EULAR mSCORE – to predict the presence of carotid plaques in 865 people with RA (mean age 57 years, 77% women) who had no history of diabetes, chronic kidney disease, or CV events.

In unadjusted analyses, infants born to women who were exposed to biologics during pregnancy had a significant 1.3-fold increased risk for congenital abnormalities relative to those born to unexposed women, as well as a significant 1.61-fold increased risk for preterm delivery and a 1.68-fold increased risk for low birthweight.

Sammaritano and colleagues note that “[t]he strength of evidence on reproductive health topics in RMD patients is moderate at best, and usually low, very low or nonexistent for many topics of interest,” and outline priorities for future research, which should include better understanding of the effects of RMD medication on male fertility, and large-scale studies on RMD drug use in women around the time of pregnancy. m edwireNews is an independent medical news service provided by Springer Healthcare. © 2020 Springer Healthcare part of the Springer Nature group Arthritis Rheumatol 2020; doi:10.1002/art.41191 Arthritis Care Res 2020; doi:10.1002/acr.24130

For example, the Female Sexual Function Index score at week 24 was significantly better among women given abatacept versus placebo (adjusted mean difference=3.8 points), which they say “might be important, considering the negative effect of primary Sjögren’s syndrome on sexual function.”

Findings from a systematic review suggest that sexual dysfunction is common among both men and women with inflammatory arthritis, highlighting the importance of including sexual health in the routine management of rheumatic disease.

Of note, just two studies reported on sleep problems and there was a “paucity of studies on suicide, self-harm, sexual health, substance misuse and other important mental health–related comorbidities,” say the researchers, stressing the need for more research on these conditions.

Psoriatic arthritis patients with multiple comorbidities have worse physical function than those with just one comorbidity, according to a cross-sectional analysis of the CARMA study of patients from daily clinical practice in Spain.

Puchner R et al. J Rheumatol 2018. doi: 10.3899/jrheum.171287

In this editorial, the authors discuss the risks of live vaccination in children taking antirheumatic medications and how to manage these, as well as how health authorities can address decreasing vaccination coverage of the general public.

Zhao S et al. J Rheumatol 2018. doi: 10.3899/jrheum.170956