•Reduced health-related quality of life (HQOL), fatigue and psychological distress are common in rheumatoid arthritis (RA).•Physical activity should be an integral part of RA management yet there is ...a lack of RA-targeted exercise programs.•A 12-week Yoga in Daily Life program was not associated with change in HQOL in RA patients.•Significant and sustained improvements with yoga were observed in fatigue and mood. The yoga program proved safe and feasible.•Yoga in Daily Life program could be of benefit in facilitating physical activity in RA and complement standard RA management.
To explore the feasibility and effectiveness of a yoga program in improving health-related quality of life (HQOL), physical and psychological functioning in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.
Single-centre parallel-arms randomized controlled trial comparing yoga (n = 30) and education control group (n = 27).
Tertiary care University hospital.
A 12-week yoga program, based on the Yoga in Daily Life system, included 2x weekly/90-minute sessions. The control group had 1xweekly/60-minute educational lectures on arthritis-related topics.
Assessments were performed at baseline, 12 (post-intervention) and 24 weeks (follow-up). The primary outcome was change in The Short Form-36 (SF-36) HQOL at 12 weeks. Linear regression analysis was adjusted for baseline scores.
No significant between-group differences were found for SF-36 (all p > 0.05). At 12 weeks the adjusted mean difference between groups favoured yoga for Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-fatigue (5.08 CI 1.29 to 8.86; p = 0.009) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)-depression (−1.37 CI −2.38 to −0.36); p = 0.008) and at 24 weeks for HADS-anxiety (−1.79 CI −3.34 to − 0.23; p = 0.025), while the impact on fatigue was sustained (5.43 CI 1.33 to 9.54, p = 0.01). The program had no impact on RA disease activity. Feasibility outcomes included recruitment rate 16 %, retention 80.7 %, and adherence to yoga 87.5 vs 82.7 % for control. No serious adverse events were recorded.
Yoga in Daily Life program was not associated with change in health-related quality of life of RA patients. Significant improvements in fatigue and mood were observed at postintervention and follow-up. This yoga program was found feasible and safe for patients and may complement standard RA treat-to-target strategy.
Key Clinical Message
Alpha‐gal syndrome is an immunoglobulin E‐mediated hypersensitivity characterized by delayed allergic reactions to ingested products containing alpha‐gal carbohydrate. We present ...a patient with recurrent urticaria and suspected repaglinide hypersensitivity, who was eventually diagnosed with alpha‐gal syndrome, wanting to emphasize possible drug allergy misdiagnosis and required caution with the medication choice.
Alpha‐gal syndrome—Food or drug allergy: A case report .
Patients' needs and perspectives are important determinants of treatment success in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Assessing patients' perspectives can help identify unmet needs and enhance the ...understanding of treatment benefits.
The SENSE study assessed the impact of inadequate response to disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) on treatment satisfaction, disease outcomes, and patient perspectives related to RA disease management.
SENSE was a noninterventional, cross-sectional study conducted in 18 countries across Europe, Asia, and South America. Adult patients with poorly controlled RA of moderate/high disease activity were eligible. Patient satisfaction was assessed by the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM v1.4). Treatment adherence, healthcare resource utilization (HRU), quality of life (QoL), work ability, digital health literacy (DHL), patient preference information, and treatment strategy were also assessed.
A total of 1624 patients were included in the study: most were female (84.2%) and middle-aged, and mean disease duration was 10.5 years. Mean TSQM global satisfaction subscore was 60.9, with only 13.5% of patients reporting good treatment satisfaction (TSQM global ≥80). The strongest predictor of good treatment satisfaction was treatment with advanced therapies. Most patients (87.4%) reported good treatment adherence. In general, patients had impaired QoL and work ability, high HRU, and 67.4% had poor DHL. Leading treatment expectations were "general improvement of arthritis" and "less joint pain". Most patients preferred oral RA medications (60.7%) and rapid (≤1 week) onset of action (71.1%). "Increased risk for malignancies" and "increased risk for cardiovascular disease" were the least acceptable side effects. Despite suboptimal control, advanced therapies were only used in a minority of patients, and DMARD switches were planned for only half of the patients.
Suboptimal disease control negatively impacts treatment satisfaction, work ability, QoL, and HRU. Data collected on patient perspectives may inform shared decision-making and optimize treat-to-target strategies for improving patient outcomes in RA.
The hypothesis of the study was that polymorphisms in promoter regions -238 and -308 of
TNF-α
could be associated with different clinical outcomes in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and ...immune-mediated rheumatic diseases (IMRD). The aim was to examine the possible association of both polymorphisms with concentration of C-reactive protein (CRP) and fecal calprotectin (fCAL), onset of the remission and development of the ADA in patients on therapy with anti-TNF inhibitors. The prospective study was done in patients with IBD and IMRD on infliximab (IFX) or adalimumab (ADM). Patients were genotyped for
TNF-α
-238 and -308 polymorphisms. The concentration of CRP, fCAL, IFX or ADM and antibodies to drugs were measured according to manufacturer’s instructions and followed-up for 6 or 12 months. Out of all patients (
N
= 112), number of patients in remission did not differ according to genotypes (for IBD patients
P
= 0.509 vs 0.223; for IMRD patients
P
= 0.541 vs 0.132 for
TNF-α
-238 and -308, respectively). Initial CRP concentration was higher in IBD patients with
TNF-α
-308 GG than GA/AA genotypes in patients who failed to achieve remission 11.8 (4.4–39.6) vs 3.1 (1.5–6.5),
P
= 0.033. In IBD patients with remission, fCAL concentration after at least 6 months of therapy was higher in
TNF-α
-308 GG than in GA genotype 52 (25–552) vs 20 (20–20) µg/g,
P
= 0.041. Our results showed the association of
TNF-α
-308 GG genotype with a higher concentration of CRP and fecal calprotectin in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases on IFX or ADM therapy. Clinical remission and development of antibodies to anti-TNF drugs were not associated with
TNF-α
-238 and -308 polymorphisms.
Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a systemic autoimmune disease characterised by generalized microangiopathy and fibrosis of skin and internal organs. The 2013 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) / ...European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) criteria have contributed considerably to classifying patients with SSc in earlier stages, but they still lack sensitivity for a very early stage of the disease. Criteria for a very early diagnosis of SSc (VEDOSS) have been proposed by EULAR Scleroderma Trial and Research group (EUSTAR) which include three red flags: Raynaud's phenomenon, puffy fingers and antinuclear antibody positivity, plus SSc specific antibodies positivity and/or abnormal nailfold capillaroscopy. We report a case of a 54-year-old female patient with 6-week history of puffy fingers, Raynaud phenomenon and positive antinuclear antibodies. Further workup revealed early pathologic capillary pattern by nailfold capillaroscopy and positive anticentromere antibodies. Screening for internal organ involvement detected no heart, lung, or upper gastrointestinal tract involvement. The patient was started on pentoxifylline with further follow-up. The aim of the implementation of VEDOSS criteria is to diagnose SSc at the earliest possible stage, so that subclinical internal organ involvement could be detected and appropriate treatment started at a potentially reversible stage.
Summary
Objective
Previous studies have shown that
Helicobacter pylori
(HP) infection is associated with increased activity and severity of systemic sclerosis (SSc), hence we aimed to evaluate the ...effect of HP eradication on various symptoms and inflammatory indices.
Methods
The SSc patients without dyspeptic symptoms were prospectively enrolled in this 18-month cross-sectional study. Patients were divided into two groups based on determination of HP infection. The infected group was treated in accordance with the current HP eradication protocol. Assessment of disease activity, severity and organ involvement was performed every 6 months.
Results
A total of 42 consecutive SSc patients without dyspepsia and variable disease activity and severity were recruited. Levels of modified Rodnan skin score, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C reactive protein (CRP) significantly decreased following HP eradication (
p
< 0.001,
p
< 0.001 and
p
= 0.001, respectively), and in the HP-negative patient group ESR and CRP values increased (
p
= 0.03,
p
= 0.002). Eradication of HP in the group of infected patients induced progressive and significant improvement of disease activity and severity over time compared to baseline (
p
< 0.01,
p
< 0.001, respectively), whereas in the HP-negative patient group these scores remained unchanged. In our study, HP eradication was associated with an improvement of clinical symptoms and disease activity.
Conclusion
These findings suggest that HP detection and subsequent eradication could be beneficial in the management of SSc patients. Although, HP eradication seems to be advantageous in infected SSc patients, larger controlled studies are needed for a potential recommendation.
To assess the validity of the rheumatoid arthritis impact of disease (RAID) for measuring disease activity of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to determine cut-off values for defining the disease ...activity states.
A total of 622 RA patients from an European database have been included. Cross-validation was based on assessment of convergent and discriminant validity. Optimal cut-offs were determined against external criteria by calculating the respective 25th and 75th percentiles mean values of RAID. External criteria included definitions for remission (REM), low disease activity (LDA), moderate disease activity (MDA) and high disease activity (HDA), cut-offs of the 28-joint disease activity score-C-reactive protein (DAS28-CRP) score.
The RAID showed a moderate degree of correlation with respect to DAS28-CRP (rho=0.417; P<0.0001). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves to discriminate the ability of RAID to distinguish patients with active and non-active disease was very good with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.847 (95% confidence interval CI: 0.816 to 0.878; P<0.0001). Based on the distributions of RAID in the different disease activity groups, we propose the following cut-off values for REM: RAID ≤3; for LDA: RAID >3 and ≤4; for MDA: RAID >4 and ≤6; for HDA: RAID >6. Mean RAID differed significantly between patients classified as REM, LDA, MDA or HDA (P=0.001).
The cut-offs revealed good measurement characteristics in cross-validation analysis, had great discriminatory performance in distinguishing patients with different levels of disease activity and are suited for widespread use in everyday practice application and research.
Objective
To evaluate the 12-month efficacy and safety profile of adalimumab and etanercept in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and total spinal ankylosis (TSA).
Type of study design
...Case-series follow-up study.
Design
Twenty-eight patients (26 men and 2 women) with active AS (BASDAI > 4) and TSA were treated as follows: 19 patients receiving adalimumab and 9 patients receiving etanercept. Twelve-month data related to the efficacy and safety of these two TNF-alpha inhibitors were evaluated. The primary endpoint was ASAS 20 (the ASsessment in AS International Working Group criteria for 20% improvement) at weeks 12 and 52. Other measures that were evaluated were function (BASFI), disease activity (BASDAI), patient’s and physician’s global disease assessment on visual analogue scale (VAS) and C-reactive protein.
Results
In both adalimumab and etanercept groups, there was a significant improvement in all observed variables (baseline compared to weeks 12 and 52). This improvement was sustained for the whole follow-up period. In the adalimumab group, at week 12, ASAS 20 was achieved in 18/19 patients and at week 52 in 17/19 patients. In the etanercept group, at week 12 ASAS 20 was achieved in all patients and at week 52 in 6/9 patients.
Conclusion
In patients with active AS and TSA, adalimumab and etanercept treatment showed significant improvement in function and disease activity. No serious side effects or adverse effects were observed in our cohort.
Key Points
• TNF-alpha inhibitors can be effective treatment options for patients with AS and having total spinal ankylosis.
• Patients with advanced AS should not be disregarded as good candidates for treatment with biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs.
Aim
Rheumatoid arthritis is associated with accelerated atherosclerosis. However, little is known about preclinical atherosclerosis in hypertensive rheumatoid arthritis patients. In this ...cross‐sectional study we assessed the expression of preclinical atherosclerosis in hypertensive rheumatoid arthritis patients in comparison with matched hypertensive non‐rheumatoid arthritis patients.
Methods
The study included 52 hypertensive rheumatoid arthritis patients and 42 hypertensive non‐rheumatoid arthritis patients. The patients were extensively examined clinically and laboratory tested. The expression of preclinical atherosclerosis was estimated by assessing ambulatory arterial stiffness index and common carotid intima‐media thickness.
Results
Arterial stiffness index and common carotid intima‐media thickness were higher in hypertensive rheumatoid arthritis patients than in hypertensive non‐rheumatoid arthritis patients. There was no correlation between arterial stiffness index and common carotid intima‐media thickness with markers of inflammation and disease activity in hypertensive rheumatoid arthritis patients.
Conclusion
The expression of subclinical atherosclerosis is more pronounced in hypertensive rheumatoid arthritis than in hypertensive non‐ rheumatoid arthritis patients.
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