Arthritis Care & Research最新文献

Objective: The gastrointestinal tract (GIT) is the most commonly affected internal organ in systemic sclerosis (SSc). We sought to determine the prevalence and impact of GIT symptoms on survival and patient-reported outcomes.

Methods: A total of 907 consecutive patients from the Australian Scleroderma Cohort Study who had prospectively completed the University of California, Los Angeles, Scleroderma Clinical Trials Consortium Gastrointestinal Tract 2.0 Questionnaire (UCLA GIT) between 2015 and 2021 were included. The associations between UCLA GIT scores and physical function (Scleroderma Health Assessment Questionnaire), quality of life (QoL; Short Form 36), mood (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System [PROMIS] anxiety and depression domains), fatigue (Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue score), and employment were investigated using multivariable population-averaged panel models using generalized estimating equations (GEEs). Kaplan-Meier curves and multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to evaluate survival according to total UCLA GIT scores.

Results: GIT symptoms were reported in 87% of participants, with 46% to 52% reporting moderate to very severe symptoms of reflux, distension, diarrhea, and constipation. Higher total UCLA GIT scores were associated with worse QoL, physical function, fatigue, anxiety, and depression (P < 0.001). In the multivariable GEE analysis, moderate and severe to very severe total scores, reflux scores, and distension scores were associated with worse physical function, QoL, fatigue, anxiety, and depression compared to mild scores (P < 0.05). Patients with severe total scores and diarrhea scores were more likely to be unemployed compared to those with mild scores (P < 0.05). UCLA GIT total scores were not independently associated with death in our cohort.

Conclusion: GIT manifestations are common in SSc and negatively impact QoL, physical function, and employment but are not directly associated with increased death.

Objective: Among individuals with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who became pregnant, we explored the impact of medical readiness for pregnancy and personal readiness for pregnancy on the following aspects of maternal health: (1) provider-reported disease activity, (2) patient-perceived disease activity, (3) mood symptoms, (4) pregnancy-related health behaviors, and (5) pregnancy outcomes.

Methods: All study participants were enrolled in a prospective registry, met Systemic Lupus Collaborating Clinics (SLICC) criteria for SLE, and had at least one pregnancy. Patient-reported outcomes were collected at the first rheumatology visit during pregnancy. "Medically ready" for pregnancy was defined as (1) <1 g of proteinuria, (2) no rheumatic teratogens at conception, and (3) continuing pregnancy-compatible SLE medications after conception. "Personally ready" was defined as planned pregnancy based on a London Measure of Unplanned Pregnancy score ≥10. Multivariable logistic regression models estimated the association of pregnancy readiness with each outcome of interest.

Results: Among the 111 individuals enrolled, lack of medical readiness for pregnancy was associated with significantly higher rates of active disease and worse pregnancy outcomes; however, these patients did not perceive themselves as having higher disease activity. Lack of personal readiness for pregnancy was associated with significantly higher patient-perceived disease activity. Although medical readiness did not impact depressive symptoms substantially, lack of personal readiness for pregnancy was associated with much higher maternal depressive symptoms.

Conclusion: To improve pregnancy outcomes among individuals with SLE, greater focus is needed on improving medical optimization before conception. For maternal mental health and quality of life, greater focus is needed on decreasing the incidence of unplanned pregnancy.

Objective: Environmental hazards and heightened neighborhood social vulnerability coexist and disproportionately affect minoritized populations. We investigated associations between exposure to adverse environmental burden concentrated in areas with high social vulnerability and care fragmentation (missed appointments, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations) and social needs (eg, food and housing insecurity) among individuals with rheumatic conditions.

Methods: We identified adults receiving care in a Massachusetts multihospital system with at least two rheumatic disease codes and complete street addresses. Geocoded addresses were linked to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Social-Environmental Ranking (SER), which combines census-tract social vulnerability variables (eg, socioeconomic status) with environmental hazards (eg, air and water pollution). Social needs were obtained from self-reported surveys. Multilevel, multinomial regression models estimated associations between SER quartiles and care fragmentation and social need burden, accounting for demographics and comorbidities.

Results: Among 16,856 individuals with rheumatic conditions, 70% were female, 6% were Black, 82% were White, and 7% resided in the highest combined social vulnerability and environmental burden (SER quartile 4) areas. Among 7,083 with social needs data, 19% experienced more than one challenge. Individuals in SER quartile 4 areas (vs quartile 1) had 2.02 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.67-2.46) times greater odds of at least four care fragmentation occurrences (vs 0) and 2.37 (95% CI 1.73-3.25) times greater odds of at least two social needs (vs 0).

Conclusion: Residence in areas of high combined adverse environmental burden and social vulnerability was associated with significantly greater odds of care fragmentation and social needs. Addressing structural factors and emerging environmental threats contributing to these adverse exposures is essential to reduce rheumatic disease care inequities.

Objective: This study aimed to systematically synthesize literature on prognostic factors of changes in either direction (ie, worsening or improvement) in pain, physical functioning, and participation in patients with knee and/or hip osteoarthritis (OA).

Methods: Studies included in two preceding reviews underwent full-text screening for inclusion in the current review. Additionally, an extensive literature search was conducted in five databases. Title/abstract screening was performed using an active learning program. Inclusion criteria comprised patients diagnosed with knee and/or hip OA, with the dependent variable assessing pain, physical functioning, or participation. Potential associated prognostic factors were measured as independent variables. The methodologic quality of studies was assessed with the Hayden criteria.

Results: A total of 31 studies were included in this systematic review. In patients with knee OA, pain worsening was associated with lower physical functioning (strong evidence) and with higher body mass index, ethnicity, and a higher comorbidity count (moderate evidence). Also, in patients with knee OA, pain improvement was associated with less pain at baseline (moderate evidence). In patients with knee and/or hip OA, worsening of physical functioning exhibited associations with higher body mass index, more pain, more hip pain, a higher comorbidity count, higher avoidance of activities (strong evidence), and ethnicity (moderate evidence). In patients with knee OA, improvement in physical functioning showed an association with higher vitality (moderate evidence). Regarding the remaining prognostic factors, there is weak, inconclusive, or inconsistent evidence for an association with the outcomes. In patients with hip OA, only weak evidence was found for three factors predicting a change in physical functioning.

Conclusion: This review encompasses prognostic factors associated with changes in either direction (ie, worsening or improvement) in pain, physical functioning, and participation. The results are consistent with other reviews. Future research should place a stronger emphasis on patients with hip OA and participation as an outcome.

Objective: There are limited data on researchers' attitudes and beliefs on returning and managing incidental research findings from whole body ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG PET/CT) imaging.

Methods: Site principal investigators (PIs) who enrolled participants for the Treatments Against Rheumatoid Arthritis and Effect on FDG PET/CT (TARGET) trial were surveyed.

Results: Of the 28 TARGET site PIs eligible for the study, 18 consented to participate (response rate: 64%). Many site PIs returned incidental findings to participants (61%), and the most common finding that was returned was serious (but not life-threatening) and treatable (54.5%). More than half of the investigators believed that adequacy of clinical follow up (58.8%) and legal liability if incidental findings are not disclosed (55.6%) were extremely important factors in returning incidental research findings from whole body FDG PET/CT. All investigators felt very obligated to return incidental research findings if scans revealed a treatable, high-risk medical condition. Most investigators felt very obligated to disclose incidental findings with important health implications (94.4%), for which proven preventive or therapeutic interventions exist (77.8%), that provide early detection of a health problem (72.2%), if participants ask for their incidental findings (72.2%), and if scans have established validity for a particular medical condition (61.1%).

Conclusion: Although it is recommended that researchers report and manage incidental research findings, our data show differing views and uncertainties on what and how to return, and the extent of follow up needed to manage, incidental findings from whole body FDG PET/CT; this highlights the need for more specific and standardized guidance.

A critical unanswered question is what is causing the increase in the prevalence of autoimmunity and autoimmune diseases around the world. Given the rapidity of change, this is likely the result of major recent alterations in our exposures to environmental risk factors for these diseases. More evidence is becoming available that the evolution of autoimmune disease, years or even decades in the making, results from multiple exposures that alter susceptible genomes and immune systems over time. Exposures during sensitive phases in key developmental or hormonal periods may set the stage for the effects of later exposures. It is likely that synergistic and additive impacts of exposure mixtures result in chronic low-level inflammation. This inflammation may eventually pass thresholds that lead to immune system activation and autoimmunity, and with further molecular and pathologic changes, the complete clinical syndrome emerges. Much work remains to be done to define the mechanisms and risk and protective factors for autoimmune conditions. However, evidence points to a variety of pollutants, xenobiotics, infections, occupational exposures, medications, smoking, psychosocial stressors, changes in diet, obesity, exercise, and sleep patterns, as well as climate change impacts of increased heat, storms, floods, wildfires, droughts, UV radiation, malnutrition, and changing infections, as possible contributors. Substantial investments in defining the role of causal factors, in whom and when their effects are most important, the necessary and sufficient gene-environment interactions, improved diagnostics and therapies, and preventive strategies are needed now to limit the many negative personal, societal, and financial impacts that will otherwise occur.

Objective: Physician global assessments (PhyGAs) are variably applied in systemic sclerosis (SSc) clinical trials. The comparability of different PhyGA results is unknown. We sought to assess the comparability of results from three different PhyGA instruments simultaneously applied in the Australian Scleroderma Cohort Study (ASCS).

Methods: Using data from 1,965 ASCS participants, we assessed the correlation between results of three PhyGA assessments: (1) overall health, (2) activity, and (3) damage. We evaluated the concordance of change in each PhyGA between study visits. Ordered logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the clinical associations of each PhyGA.

Results: The absolute scores of each PhyGA were strongly correlated at individual study visits. Concordant changes of the PhyGA scores occurred between 50% of study visits. Only patient-reported breathlessness was associated with all three PhyGA scores (overall health: odds ratio [OR] 1.67, P < 0.01; activity: OR 1.44, P < 0.01; damage: OR 1.32, P < 0.01). Changes in physician-assessed activity scores were also associated with patient-reported worsening skin disease (OR 1.25, P = 0.03) and fecal incontinence (OR 1.23, P = 0.01), whereas damage scores were associated with respiratory disease (pulmonary arterial hypertension: OR 1.25, P = 0.03; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: OR 1.37, P = 0.04), as well as skin scores (OR 1.02, P < 0.01) and fecal incontinence (OR 1.21, P = 0.02).

Conclusion: PhyGAs of overall health, activity, and damage are each associated with different SSc features, and changes in different PhyGA scores are discordant 50% of the time. Our findings suggest results of variably worded PhyGAs are not directly interchangeable and support the development of a standardized PhyGA.

Objective: At Women & Infants Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, the Specialty Care in Pregnancy clinic combines obstetric-medicine internists with rheumatologists to care for pregnant patients with rheumatologic conditions. These clinics are scarce, with only three known similar clinics in the United States. This study aims to characterize the population cared for in this clinic, identify interventions, and analyze pregnancy outcomes for the birthing parents and newborns.

Methods: A five-year retrospective chart review was performed from January 1st, 2016, through December 31st, 2021.

Results: Of 81 patients, 62% had a clinically diagnosed rheumatic disorder. Of 87 patient visits, which included preconception, prenatal, and postpartum encounters, 54% of patients were taking conventional synthetic disease modifying antirheumatic drugs, and 17% were taking biologic disease modifying antirheumatic drugs. New medications were started in 52% of patients. A total of 52% of pregnancies resulted in live births, with 2% resulting in miscarriages. Prematurity occurred in 19% of newborns, and 9% had intrauterine growth restriction.

Conclusion: Our study illustrates the benefits of multidisciplinary care in patients with rheumatologic disorders during their prenatal and perinatal periods. The expertise from both the obstetric-medicine internists and rheumatologists was critical in making complex decisions that weighed the benefits of therapy against potential risks for the fetus. Our multidisciplinary approach resulted in doubling of the number of patients initiating disease modifying therapy and increased prophylaxis with hydroxychloroquine and/or aspirin therapy, as recommended by current guidelines. Additional multidisciplinary clinics of this type would help coordinate care among physicians who frequently treat these high-risk, unique patients and open the door for more research of this understudied population.

Objective: Nonadherence to receiving hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) is associated with a three-fold higher risk of lupus-related hospitalization. Monitoring HCQ blood levels could improve adherence to receiving HCQ and efficacy. Yet, HCQ level monitoring is not routinely done partially due to cost and coverage concerns. To establish HCQ level monitoring cost-effectiveness, we reported the following: (1) risk of acute care by HCQ blood levels, and (2) cost of HCQ monitoring versus acute care visits.

Methods: HCQ blood levels were measured during routine lupus visits. HCQ levels were categorized as follows: (1) subtherapeutic (<750 ng/mL), (2) therapeutic (750-1,200 ng/mL), or (3) supratherapeutic (>1,200 ng/mL). All lupus-related acute care visits (emergency room visits/hospitalizations) after the index clinic visit until next follow-up were abstracted. In our primary analysis, we examined associations between HCQ levels and time to first acute care visit in all patients and subgroups with higher rates of acute care.

Results: A total of 39 lupus-related acute care visits were observed in 181 patients. Therapeutic HCQ blood levels were associated with 66% lower rates of acute care. In our cohort, two groups, Black or Hispanic patients and those with public insurance, faced three to four times higher rates of acute care. Levels within 750 to 1,200 ng/mL were associated with 95% lower rates of acute care use in subgroups with higher acute care use.

Conclusion: HCQ blood levels within 750 to 1,200 ng/mL are associated with lower rates of acute care in all patients with lupus, including groups with higher rates of acute care. Future clinical trials should establish the causal association between HCQ level monitoring and acute care in patients with lupus.

Objective: This study evaluates the effectiveness of the Training to Increase Minority Enrollment in Lupus Clinical Trials with Community Engagement (TIMELY) program on enhancing referrals of underrepresented patients to lupus clinical trials. TIMELY leverages two existing American College of Rheumatology online educational initiatives: Materials to Increase Minority Involvement in Clinical Trials (MIMICT), a continuing medical education activity for health care providers, and the community health worker (CHW) Lupus Clinical Trials Training (LuCTT). TIMELY introduced a unique roundtable meeting format to build on the existing online educational programs and facilitate discussions between local clinical trial sites and provider and CHW participants.

Methods: This study used an online pretest and posttest design to assess changes in theory-based behavioral predictors of lupus clinical trial referrals and engagement (ie, knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, and intentions) among providers and CHWs. Participants completed MIMICT or LuCTT and then were eligible to participate in roundtable meetings. Paired t-tests were used to assess changes in composite scores before and after the intervention for each of the outcomes.

Results: The final sample included 40 providers and 18 CHWs. Knowledge scores increased significantly for both providers (P < 0.01) and CHWs (P < 0.001) on completion of MIMICT and LuCTT, respectively. After participating in the TIMELY roundtable, providers' composite scores for self-efficacy and intentions significantly increased (P < 0.001). Provider self-efficacy gains were sustained at three months' follow-up (P < 0.001).

Conclusion: These promising findings highlight the potential and opportunities for the TIMELY program to improve behavioral predictors of trial referrals, including CHW knowledge and providers' knowledge, self-efficacy, and intentions to refer underrepresented patients to lupus clinical trials.