Rheumatoid Arthritis News Roundup: RA As Two Diseases and More

Rheumatoid Arthritis Case Review: 53-year-old Female RA Patient Who Is Biologic Naive: Roy M. Fleischmann, M.D., clinical professor of medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, assess a case of a 53-year-old woman with rheumatoid arthritis.

First Depression, Then Rheumatoid Arthritis? Depression may be linked to an increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis, particularly patients taking antidepressants, shows a new study.

Fluctuating Weight in RA Can Heighten CVD Risk: Weight fluctuation in rheumatoid arthritis patients appears to be associated with higher cardiovascular risk in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, especially if they are not overweight, shows a new study.

Exercise Types Essential in Rheumatic Disease: Patients with inflammatory arthritis and osteoarthritis should be participating in four different types of exercise: cardiovascular, strength, flexibility, and balance. But a new study shows that patients are overly focused on cardiovascular exercise and not enough on exercise types designed to strengthen and protect joints and bones. In this interview, Dr. Lauren Freid, a rheumatologist with the University of California Los Angeles and the lead investigator of a study on physical activity in people with inflammatory arthritis and osteoarthritis, addresses exercise essentials for inflammatory rheumatic disease.

Rheumatoid Arthritis With PTSD, Anxiety and Depression: Stress and anxiety can wreak havoc on one's health and hinder recovery, particularly for patients with chronic conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis. In an article published online Sept. 13 in ACR Open Rheumatology, Joshua F. Baker, M.D., and colleagues report the results of study that finds veterans with rheumatoid arthritis and comorbid PTSD, depression, or anxiety, have poor persistence of methotrexate and TNFi therapies leading to worse outcomes. He addresses the study findings in this interview.

PRIME Cells May Predict Rheumatoid Arthritis Flares: Numbers of a new type of cell discovered in the blood of rheumatoid arthritis patients increase dramatically immediately before a flare.

Rheumatoid Arthritis As Two Diseases: The underlying pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis with and without autoantibodies may be different. Researchers say that "it is time to formally subdivide RA into type 1 (with autoantibodies) and type 2 (without autoantibodies)."

One-on-one With Dr. Dimitrios Pappas: Etanercept as Monotherapy in RA: In today’s one-on-one interview, we talk with Dimitrios A. Pappas, M.D., MPH, scientific director of the Corrona RA Registry and an adjunct professor with Columbia University. He and his team recently published results from the registry in ACR Open Rheumatology which show that rheumatoid arthritis patients may be able to maintain remission or low disease activity with etanercept (Enbrel, Amgen) monotherapy long-term treatment.

Oral Glucocorticoids and Fracture Risk in RA: Low-dose oral glucocorticoid therapy increases only vertebral fracture risk in rheumatoid arthritis patients, a study shows.

Prescribing Methotrexate with Anti-TNFs May Only Benefit Some RA Patients: Combining methotrexate with TNF inhibitors may only be worthwhile for rheumatoid arthritis patients who are seropositive, the results of a small study suggest.

The Art of Discontinuing Glucocorticoids in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Continuous low-dose glucocorticoid regimens are better than tapering for controlling disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis over a six-month period, show the results of the first double blind clinical trial to evaluate an oral glucocorticoid dose-tapering regimen with stable biological background therapy in rheumatoid arthritis.

DMARD Treatment for Early RA Improves Heart Disease: Vascular stiffness―which is often the precursor to a major cardiovascular event―appears to be present in early rheumatoid arthritis, shows a new study published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.