A Danish survey of people with inflammatory rheumatic diseases has shown that one-fifth were worried about being in the work environment during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, with many more reporting other concerns.

Presenteeism, defined as a reduction in job performance, remained low when work productivity was measured on a scale of 0–10.

In this Medicine Matters rheumatology podcast, Editorial Board member Victoria Ruffing discusses the impact that musculoskeletal diseases can have on work, and the various recommendations and resources that can help patients to remain in the workplace.

In this Medicine Matters rheumatology podcast, Editorial Board member Victoria Ruffing discusses the impact that musculoskeletal diseases can have on work, and the various recommendations and resources that can help patients to remain in the workplace

Patients with axial spondyloarthritis who are treated with biologic therapies may have less impairment in work activities than those not taking biologics, suggests an analysis of the British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Register in Ankylosing Spondylitis.

Editorial Board member Fernando Pérez-Ruiz analyzes recent audits on the management of gout in primary and secondary care, and suggests strategies to improve clinical practice.

Editorial Board member Fernando Pérez-Ruiz analyzes recent audits on the management of gout in primary and secondary care, and suggests strategies to improve clinical practice [ read more ].

Manica SR et al. Ann Rheum Dis 2018. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2018-21346

Ehrenstein B et al. Rheumatology (Oxford) 2018. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/key127

Iragorri N et al. J Rheumatol 2018; Advance online publication. doi: 10.3899/jrheum.170874

Shim J et al. Ann Rheum Dis 2018. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2018-213590

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.

Peresolimab, a PD-1 receptor agonist, may represent a promising approach to treating rheumatoid arthritis, with an “encouraging” safety profile, suggests research reported at the ACR Convergence 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

Discussing the rationale for their phase 1/2 trial, Shuang Ye (Shanghai Jiaotong University, China) and team explain that SGLT2 inhibitors – a class of agents used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes – work by lowering “glucose reabsorption in the epithelial cells of the proximal renal tubule of the kidney, which results in decreased blood glucose and glycated haemoglobin levels,” leading to an improvement in renal and CV outcomes.

Click through for more details

In this cohort, 15% of CMV IgG-seropositive individuals had a VTE while no events were reported in CMV-seronegative individuals.

“Further rollout of the telehealth-delivered care support team component of the PARTNER model is promising, however strategies to better engage with GPs and to reach more communities requires further work to ensure delivery of best-practice OA care nationally.” medwireNews is an independent medical news service provided by Springer Healthcare Ltd. © 2022 Springer Healthcare Ltd, part of the Springer Nature Group Arthritis Care Res 2022; doi:10.1002/acr.25037

Research shows that the risk for VTE is significantly related to the presence of autoantibodies associated with RA.

Adding infliximab to standard therapy with high-dose intravenous immunoglobulin plus high-dose aspirin may decrease fever duration and prevent coronary artery lesions in children with Kawasaki disease, study findings indicate.