Seminars in arthritis and rheumatism
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Semin. Arthritis Rheum. · Aug 2020
Review Meta AnalysisThe experience of a gout flare: a meta-synthesis of qualitative studies.
Gout flares are an important concern for people with gout and an understanding of patients' experiences with gout flares is central in developing meaningful outcome measures for clinical trials. This study aimed to systematically review and thematically synthesize the qualitative literature reporting the patient experience of gout flares, to inform the development of flare-specific outcome measures. ⋯ Gout flares impact many aspects of patients' lives, including physical and psychological and social and family life. The patient experience of gout flares goes beyond what is routinely measured in research settings. Measurement and reporting methods that capture these aspects of patients' experiences with gout flares would provide more meaningful outcome measures in clinical trials of flare prevention.
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Semin. Arthritis Rheum. · Aug 2020
Does type 2 diabetes increase the risk of musculoskeletal pain? Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of UK biobank data.
We investigated cross-sectional associations and whether type 2 diabetes increases the risk of musculoskeletal pain after adjusting for the presence of important comorbidities. ⋯ People with type 2 diabetes are more likely to report musculoskeletal pain in shoulder/neck, knee or hip. In addition, people with type 2 diabetes, particularly women, are more likely to present with a future episode of neck/shoulder pain. This study highlights the need to consider musculoskeletal screening among patients with diabetes and also serves as a stimulus for investigation of the mechanisms that explain the relationship between musculoskeletal pain and type 2 diabetes; with a view to prevention or improving future treatment.
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Semin. Arthritis Rheum. · Aug 2020
Incidence of COVID-19 in a cohort of adult and paediatric patients with rheumatic diseases treated with targeted biologic and synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs.
To investigate the incidence of COVID-19 in a cohort of adult and paediatric patients with rheumatic diseases receiving targeted biologic and synthetic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (tDMARDs) and to explore the possible effect of these treatments in the clinical expression of COVID-19. ⋯ Adult and paediatric patients with rheumatic diseases on tDMARDs do not seem to present a higher risk of COVID-19 or a more severe disease outcome when compared to general population.
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Semin. Arthritis Rheum. · Aug 2020
Visual and semiquantitative assessment of cranial artery inflammation with FDG-PET/CT in giant cell arteritis.
Assessing cranial artery inflammation plays an important role in the diagnosis of cranial giant cell arteritis (C-GCA). However, current diagnostic tests are limited. The use of fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/CT imaging is an established tool for assessing large vessel inflammation but is currently not used for assessment of the cranial arteries. This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of FDG-PET/CT in the diagnosis of biopsy proven C-GCA and its relation to clinical presentation. ⋯ FDG-PET/CT can reliably diagnose C-GCA by assessing cranial artery inflammation using SUVmax. Extending the use of FDG-PET/CT to include assessment of the cranial arteries may improve its diagnostic value in GCA and provide a suitable alternative to TAB. Moderate agreement between visual and semiquantitative assessment methods suggest diagnostic accuracy may be improved by further standardisation.
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Semin. Arthritis Rheum. · Jun 2020
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyThe impact of a disease flare during tapering of DMARDs on the lives of rheumatoid arthritis patients.
To determine the impact of a disease flare on patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, who are tapering treatment. ⋯ A disease flare influenced patients' lives, the largest effect was seen in the physical outcomes, and lasted 6 months. Although on a group level effect sizes for the separate PROMs were not always significant or larger than specific MCIDs, a disease flare can still be of great importance for individual patients.