In-hospital mortality and associated factors in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: analysis over more than 11 years in a reference hospital center
AbstractSystemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a disease that affects the immune system, and it can lead to increased morbidity and mortality. The primary causes of mortality for individuals with SLE are disease activity, infections, drug toxicity, and other health conditions. The aim of this study is to estimate the mortality rate of patients with SLE who are hospitalized, describe the causes of death, and identify factors associated with mortality. The study was conducted at a referral hospital from 2009 to 2021, utilizing a nested case –control design. The records of patients with SLE who were hospitalized in the Depar...
Source: Rheumatology International - October 19, 2023 Category: Rheumatology Source Type: research
Revisiting articular syndrome in the peri-pandemic COVID-19 era
AbstractArticular syndrome is often the presentation of a person ’s various rheumatic or related diseases. It includes both arthralgia and arthritis, with objective signs of joint inflammation defining the latter. This syndromic approach to joint pain enables a scientific method for early diagnosis of common rheumatic conditions without compromising the recogni tion of uncommon conditions. This review explores common rheumatic conditions associated with articular syndrome, including osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). It supports the early differentiation of uncommon but emergin...
Source: Rheumatology International - October 19, 2023 Category: Rheumatology Source Type: research
The overturn of Roe v. Wade beyond abortion: a snapshot of methotrexate accessibility for people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases —a mixed methods study using Twitter data
AbstractIn June 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States (US) overturned the right established in Roe v. Wade to terminate a pregnancy. Subsequently, some states passed abortion ban laws prohibiting the use of abortive methods, including methotrexate (MTX), which has been a cornerstone drug in rheumatology. We aimed to explore and analyze Twitter data to comprehend the short-term implications of the overturn on rheumatology care. We conducted a mixed methods study using social media (SoMe) data. Tweets publicly posted using “#Methotrexate or Methotrexate” were tracked. A combination of SoMe performance data with qu...
Source: Rheumatology International - October 19, 2023 Category: Rheumatology Source Type: research
Evaluating the efficacy of hippotherapy: a promising intervention in rheumatology, pain medicine, and geriatrics
AbstractUsing animals for medical care has a long history. Animals have long been recognized for their ability to improve human health and well-being throughout nations and civilizations. Animal-assisted therapy is a concept that incorporates intentional and regulated interactions between individuals and animals to achieve therapeutic aims. Hippotherapy is an animal-assisted therapy consisting of medical procedures and practices that use horses to restore and enhance physical and mental health. The effectiveness of hippotherapy is evidenced by its ability to have a favorable influence on vari ous domains, encompassing p...
Source: Rheumatology International - October 19, 2023 Category: Rheumatology Source Type: research
Kawasaki disease or polyarteritis nodosa: coronary involvement, a diagnostic conundrum
AbstractPolyarteritis nodosa (PAN) is a medium-vessel vasculitis presenting with cutaneous and multisystem involvement with considerable morbidity. The necrotizing vasculitis in PAN typically involves renal, celiac, and mesenteric vascular beds. Coronary artery involvement is a characteristic feature of Kawasaki disease, another medium-vessel vasculitis; however, it has been rarely reported with PAN. Here, we present 2 cases with PAN involving coronaries mimicking Kawasaki disease. A 3.5-year-old boy with classical features of Kawasaki disease with giant coronary aneurysm refractory to IVIg, methylprednisolone, infliximab ...
Source: Rheumatology International - October 19, 2023 Category: Rheumatology Source Type: research
Diabetes mellitus in rheumatic diseases: clinical characteristics and treatment considerations
AbstractNew pathophysiological insights are now available on comorbidities in rheumatic diseases (RDs). Several nationwide studies point to the fact that comorbid diabetes mellitus (DM) increases the risk of adverse outcomes in patients with various RDs. Genetic factors, intensity of systemic inflammation, anti-inflammatory potential of therapeutic agents, and duration of RDs have been insufficiently explored in the context of comorbidities. Some disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) have demonstrated a potential to improve the glycemic control while glucocorticoids (GCs) have worsened it, particularly in systemic...
Source: Rheumatology International - October 19, 2023 Category: Rheumatology Source Type: research
High-resolution musculoskeletal ultrasonography and elastography for eosinophilic fasciitis diagnosis and follow-up: a case-based review
AbstractEosinophilic fasciitis (EF) remains a rare condition without precise diagnostic criteria due to common symptoms with other autoimmune diseases requiring broad differential diagnosis. This paper describes the use of high-resolution musculoskeletal ultrasonography and elastography in the diagnosis and follow-up of eosinophilic fasciitis through the case of a 56-year-old male patient. In addition to laboratory data, instrumental data, and biopsy, musculoskeletal ultrasonography (US) was used both in the diagnostic process and in the follow-up period for an objective assessment of the changes in the patient ’s condit...
Source: Rheumatology International - October 19, 2023 Category: Rheumatology Source Type: research
Effect of the body mass index, basal metabolic rate, and body fat on the radiofrequency echographic multi-spectrometry (REMS)-based bone mineral density and fracture risk: a cross-sectional study
AbstractRadiofrequency echographic multi-spectrometry (REMS) is a method to assess bone mineral density (BMD) of the axial skeleton, fragility score (FS), body mass index (BMI), basal metabolic rate (BMR), and body fat (BF) in %. The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of the BMI, BMR, and BF on the BMD and fracture risk with REMS. We conducted a cross-sectional study among 313 women, aged 20 –90 years who underwent a screening for osteoporosis with REMS. Kruskal–Wallis was used to analyze the differences in BMI, BMR, and BF between the groups according to the BMD: normal BMD, osteopenia and osteoporosis...
Source: Rheumatology International - October 19, 2023 Category: Rheumatology Source Type: research
PET FDG CT is useful for giant-cell arteritis with isolated cough
AbstractGiant cell arteritis (GCA) is a chronic vasculitis of large- and medium-sized vessels. The most frequent symptoms are temporal headaches, scalp tenderness, jaw claudication and polymyalgia rheumatica in 35% of patients. Atypical presentation with dry cough is very rare and could be isolated making the diagnosis difficult. Initial imaging including PET-CT could be helpful. Literature review yielded 13 case reports with available data and one case series which focused on cough and which were all be included in this study. Most of the cases included males (n = 8), with mostly isolated cough or associated to fever ...
Source: Rheumatology International - October 19, 2023 Category: Rheumatology Source Type: research
The impact of COVID-19 related lockdown restrictions on musculoskeletal health: a systematic review
This study was aimed to synthesis literature that assessed the impact of COVID-19 related lockdown restrictions on MSK health. A literature search was conducted using MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Allied and Complementary Medicine Database (AMED), Web of Science, and Scopus databases. Studies meeting the following criteria were included in the review: the condition being considered was MSK health, the intervention was COVID-19 related lockdown restrictions, cross sectional studies, cohort studies, case controlled, prospective studies and retrospective studies. Data were extracted by 2 independent researchers. Risk of bias was...
Source: Rheumatology International - September 12, 2023 Category: Rheumatology Source Type: research
Nationwide-incidence and trends of fibromyalgia in South Korea: a population-based study
AbstractReports of the incidence of fibromyalgia (FM) in Asia are uncommon. Therefore, this study used nationwide representative data to investigate the age- and sex-specific incidence and annual trends of FM in South Korea. This nationwide population-based study used data from the Korean National Health Claims Database. From 2012 to 2021, patients with FM diagnosed according to the ACR 2010 criteria from the entire Korean population aged 20 –70 years were included in the enrolment database. Age- and sex-specific cumulative and annual incidences were analyzed and incident cases from 2014 to 2021 were included, consideri...
Source: Rheumatology International - September 12, 2023 Category: Rheumatology Source Type: research
A population-based projection of psoriatic arthritis in Germany until 2050: analysis of national statutory health insurance data of 65 million German population
AbstractThe population-based prevalence of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is still unclear and not well described globally. The aim of this study was to conduct a population-based prevalence projection and provide long-term future estimations of PsA patients in Germany until 2050, using the illness –death model and based on historical data. We analyzed the national statutory health insurance data of 65 million population in the German Institute for Medical Documentation and Information between January 2009 and December 2012. We constructed an estimation of the PsA burden among the German pop ulation using the relevant epidemi...
Source: Rheumatology International - September 12, 2023 Category: Rheumatology Source Type: research
Artificial intelligence-based preventive, personalized and precision medicine for cardiovascular disease/stroke risk assessment in rheumatoid arthritis patients: a narrative review
AbstractThe challenges associated with diagnosing and treating cardiovascular disease (CVD)/Stroke in Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) arise from the delayed onset of symptoms. Existing clinical risk scores are inadequate in predicting cardiac events, and conventional risk factors alone do not accurately classify many individuals at risk. Several CVD biomarkers consider the multiple pathways involved in the development of atherosclerosis, which is the primary cause of CVD/Stroke in RA. To enhance the accuracy of CVD/Stroke risk assessment in the RA framework, a proposed approach involves combining genomic-based biomarkers (GBBM) ...
Source: Rheumatology International - September 12, 2023 Category: Rheumatology Source Type: research
Clinical significance of possible HLA biomarkers in axial spondyloarthritis beyond HLA-B27 positivity
AbstractThe aim of this study is to compare four forms of axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA): non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-axSpA), ankylosing spondylitis (AS), non-radiographic axial psoriatic arthritis (nr-axPsA) and radiographic axial psoriatic arthritis (r-axPsA). In a cross-sectional retrospective study, gender difference, human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing, laboratory C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation (SE) values, and radiographic and magnetic resonance scans were analyzed. One hundred and thirty-seven patients were included in the study: 45 AS, 51 nr-axSpA, 32 r-axPsA and 9 nr-axPs...
Source: Rheumatology International - September 12, 2023 Category: Rheumatology Source Type: research
Rheumatic diseases and gut microbiota publications in 2002 –2022: a Scopus‑based bibliometric analysis
The objective of this study was to evaluate the quantity and quality of scientific research regarding the association between RDs and gut microbiota, as well as to elucidate the characteristics of worldwide research output in this field. The present bibliometric analysis was carried out using the Scopus database, using the keywords"rheumatology,""arthritis," and"gut microbiota." The study involved determining the number of articles, the number of active countries with journals, the identification of prolific authors, and the collection of citation data. Additionally, analyses of trends were co...
Source: Rheumatology International - September 12, 2023 Category: Rheumatology Source Type: research
