RMD Open

Strengths and limitations of the EULAR definition for difficult-to-treat rheumatoid arthritis

The management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has significantly improved, but a substantial number of patients still experience persistent disease activity, leading to the concept of ‘difficult-to-treat ...
RMD Open

High-intensity interval and resistance training programme improves pain and fatigue outcomes in people with systemic sclerosis: a European multicentre randomised con…

Background Pain and fatigue are among the most debilitating symptoms of systemic sclerosis (SSc), severely impairing quality ...
RMD Open

Joint involvement in VEXAS and non-VEXAS clonal haematopoiesis: two clusters from a multicentre regional cohort

Objective: To describe the joint manifestations associated with clonal haematopoiesis and to compare patients with and ...
RMD Open

AI-based HRCT quantification reveals DLCO and TLC as key determinants of ILD severity in connective tissue diseases

Objective Interstitial lung disease (ILD) represents the most common and severe organ manifestation observed in patients ...
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Multiple DMARD discontinuations in rheumatoid arthritis: how often and in what patients? Results from a national clinical RA register

Objectives Multiple discontinuations of biologic (b-) or targeted synthetic (ts-) disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) may indicate difficult-to-treat disease. We aimed to assess the ...
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Secukinumab provides sustained improvement in signs and symptoms and low radiographic progression in patients with psoriatic arthritis: 2-year (end-of-study) results from the ...

Objective Secukinumab provided sustained efficacy, low radiographic progression and consistent safety over 52 weeks in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in the FUTURE 5 study. Here, we report ...
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Serum calprotectin and complement factor C3 are superior biomarkers of inflammation in early psoriatic arthritis as compared with C-reactive protein

Objectives C reactive protein (CRP) is frequently normal in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) despite active disease, complicating inflammation assessment. This study aimed to evaluate alternative biomarkers ...
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Efficacy and safety of upadacitinib as monotherapy or combined with elsubrutinib for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus: results through 104 weeks in a long-term ...

Objectives This 1-year long-term extension (LTE) study (NCT04451772) followed the 48-week phase 2 SLEek study (NCT03978520) that evaluated upadacitinib (a Janus kinase inhibitor) alone or combined ...
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Trajectory analysis of glucocorticoid treatment highlights issues in the current tapering strategy for polymyalgia rheumatica

Objectives To identify glucocorticoid (GC) treatment patterns in patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and explore patient profiles that may benefit from GC-sparing interventions. Methods This ...
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Safety of mycophenolate mofetil in systemic lupus erythematosus maintenance therapy: insights from the LUNA registry in a nationwide prospective cohort study

Objective We aimed to compare the incidence of severe infections between mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) and other immunosuppressants in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) on maintenance ...
rmdopen.bmj

Measurement properties of disease activity instruments in peripheral spondyloarthritis: a post-hoc analysis of the CRESPA trial

Background Unravelling the performance of disease activity measures in peripheral spondyloarthritis (pSpA) is crucial for the development of clinical studies. We aimed to evaluate the construct ...
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Windows for intervention in the prearthritis phase of rheumatoid arthritis? A narrative review of key triggering events and potential preventive strategies

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that often evolves over several years, which in the presence of risk factors, is termed the at-risk phase. Several of the currently approved ...