Clinical Overview of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Efficacy and Safety of Metformin Use in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Randomized Controlled Study

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of metformin use in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients receiving conventional synthetic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (csDMARDs). Methods: A prospective, randomized, controlled, single blinded, study was carried on 66 RA patients with moderate and high disease activity state, receiving csDMARDs. Patients were simply randomized to receive either metformin 850 mg twice daily (Metformin group, n = 33), or placebo twice daily (Control group, n = 33) in addition to their stable anti-rheumatic regimen and followed up for 6 months. Serum C-reactive protein (CRP), disease activity of 28 joints based on CRP (DAS-28-CRP), and quality of life (QOL) were evaluated at baseline and then every 3 months. Moreover, serum adiponectin was assessed at baseline and after 6 months. Results: Sixty patients completed the study. Drop out was due to intolerance to metformin side effects (n = 3) and non-compliance (n = 3). Metformin significantly decreased CRP levels and DAS-28-CRP after 6 months compared to the control group (p-value <0.001). A significant improvement in QOL of metformin group was observed as early as after 3 months (p-value = 0.006) with a continued improvement observed at 6 months (p-value <0.001) compared to the control group. Despite the significantly higher serum adiponectin in the metformin group at baseline, it was significantly reduced after 6 months in the metformin group with median percent change of -63.49% compared to the significant increase in the control group with median percent change of 92.40%. Conclusion: Metformin significantly improved inflammation, disease severity, and QOL in RA patients with high safety profile. Clinical Trial Registration: Clinical-Trials.gov, identifier [NCT08363405].

Thoracic Manifestations of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the most common chronic systemic inflammatory diseases and the most common chronic inflammatory arthritis. Classically a progressive symmetric polyarthritis, RA is characterized by inflammation, erosions, bone loss, and joint destruction. Up to half of patients with RA exhibit extra-articular manifestations (EAMs), which may precede articular disease and are more common in patients with seropositive RA (patients with detectable serum levels of rheumatoid factor and/or anticitrullinated peptide antibodies). Cardiovascular and pulmonary EAMs are the largest contributors to morbidity and mortality in RA and may be especially devastating. Imaging has a significant role in diagnosing these EAMs and assessing response to treatment. Although treatment with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs has redefined the natural history of RA and helped many patients achieve low disease activity, patients are at risk for treatment-related complications, as well as infections. The clinical features of drug-induced lung disease and infection can overlap considerably with those of EAMs, presenting a diagnostic challenge. Radiologists, by recognizing the imaging characteristics and evolution of these various processes, are essential in diagnosing and distinguishing among EAMs, treatment-related complications, and unrelated processes and formulating an appropriate differential diagnosis. Moreover, recognizing these disease processes at imaging and contextualizing imaging findings with clinical information and laboratory and pathologic findings can facilitate definitive diagnosis and proper treatment. The authors review the articular and extra-articular thoracic imaging manifestations of RA, including cardiovascular, respiratory, and pleural diseases, as well as treatment-related complications and common infections. ^©RSNA, 2021.

Pulmonary Manifestations of Rheumatoid Arthritis, Psoriatic Arthritis and Peripheral Spondyloarthritis: Prevalence, Diagnostic Approach and Treatment Options

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is the most common form of pulmonary impairment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, patients with RA or other arthritic diseases such as psoriatic arthritis (PsA) or peripheral spondyloarthritis (pSpA) are at a higher risk of developing several other pulmonary diseases, such as chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD), compared to patients without arthritis. This review aims at summarizing the current knowledge on the prevalence of pulmonary diseases in the above-mentioned forms of arthritis, the challenges faced by prevalence studies in detecting pulmonary diseases in patients with arthritis, as well as possible treatment options. Dyspnea, cough or other pulmonary symptoms in arthritis patients should prompt gradual diagnostic procedures considering pulmonary manifestations as a major cluster of differential diagnosis. However, treatment options often lack solid evidence-based guidelines and referrals to specialized centers are often necessary.

Evaluation of Serum Calprotectin Level and Disease Activity in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

BACKGROUND

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is the most common type of chronic inflammatory arthritis with unknown etiology marked by a symmetric, peripheral polyarthritis. Calprotectin also can be used as a biomarker of disease activity in inflammatory arthritis and other autoimmune diseases.

OBJECTIVES

In this study, we evaluated the association between serum calprotectin level and severity of RA activity.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted on 44 RA patients with disease flare-up. Serum samples were obtained from all patients to measure calprotectin, ESR, CRP prior to starting the treatment and after treatment period in the remission phase. Based on Disease Activity Score 28 (DAS28), disease activity was calculated.

RESULTS

Of 44 RA patients, 9(20.5%) were male and 35(79.5%) were female. The mean age of our cases was 53±1.6 years. Seventeen (38.6%) patients had moderate DAS28 and 27(61.4%) had high DAS28. The average level of calprotectin in the flare-up phase was 347.12±203.60 ng/ml and 188.04±23.58 ng/ml in the remission phase. We did not find any significant association between calprotectin and tender joint count (TJC; P=0.22), swollen joint count (SJC; P=0.87), and general health (GH; P=0.59), whereas significant associations were found between the calprotectin level and ESR (p=0.001) and DAS28 (p=0.02). The average calprotectin level in moderate DAS28 (275.21±217.96 ng/ml) was significantly lower than that in high DAS28 (392.4±183.88 ng/ml) (p=0.05).

CONCLUSION

We showed that the serum level of calprotectin can be a useful and reliable biomarker in RA activity and its severity. It also can predict treatment response.