Contributing factors of clinical outcomes at 1 year post-diagnosis in early rheumatoid arthritis patients with tightly controlled disease activity in clinical practice: a retrospective study

Rheumatoid arthritis caused by non-tuberculous mycobacteria infection

A 72-year-old Japanese woman had right digital flexor tenosynovitis with a non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) infection, which was identified as Mycobacterium marinum in culture. She had been treated at another hospital with clarithromycin, rifampicin, and ethambutol for the non-tuberculous tenosynovitis. However, the swelling of her right hand worsened, and 5 months later, her left hand swelled and she exhibited symmetrical arthritis. Blood tests detected elevated serum C-reactive protein and rheumatoid factor positivity. Although rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was suspected and corticosteroid treatment was started, she came to our hospital because of the insufficient treatment effect. Musculoskeletal ultrasonography showed intra-articular and peritendinous power Doppler signal-positive symmetrical synovitis. A contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluation of the left hand without NTM tenosynovitis revealed findings of inflammatory synovitis accompanied by bone marrow oedema. We diagnosed RA and started treatment with weekly low-dose methotrexate pulses and 2 weeks of tocilizumab administration; her symptoms then disappeared within 2 months. This is a rare case of RA manifested with NTM-associated arthritis.

Predictors of remission in rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with biologics: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Biologics have emerged as an effective treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, there is a significant proportion of patients who fail to respond to biologics. Identifying the predictors that affect the response to biologics remains challenging. A comprehensive literature search of PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases was conducted through May 1, 2022. We included all studies that used a multivariate model to assess for the predictors of remission in RA patients treated with biologics. We calculated pooled odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for risk factors reported in ≥ 3 studies using a random-effects model. A total of 16,934 patients with RA who were treated with biologics were included in twenty-one studies. Our study showed that old age (OR 0.98 (0.97, 0.99), P < 0.00001), female gender (OR 0.66 (0.56, 0.77), P < 0.00001), smoking history (OR 0.86 (0.75, 0.99), P 0.04), obesity (OR 0.95 (0.91, 0.99), P 0.02), poor functional status (OR 0.62 (0.48, 1.27), P < 0.00001), high disease activity (OR 0.90 (0.85, 0.96), P 0.0005), and elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (OR 0.99 (0.98, 1.00), P 0.009) were poor predictors of remission. On the other hand, positive anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (OR 2.52 (1.53, 4.12), P 0.0003) was associated with high remission rate. Old age, female gender, obesity, smoking history, poor functional status, high disease activity, and elevated ESR at the time of diagnosis have been associated with poor response to biologics. Our findings could help establish a risk stratification model for predicting the remission rate in RA patients receiving biologics.

Importance of baseline musculoskeletal ultrasound findings in the prognosis of rheumatoid arthritis

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the prognostic value of baseline musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSUS) findings for rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

METHOD

We retrospectively analyzed 138 patients with RA. Patients' first MSUS record was considered as the baseline expression. The subsequent MSUS changes that showed alleviation or progression were regarded as the cutoff point. Grayscale ultrasound (GSUS) synovitis, power Doppler ultrasound (PDUS) synovitis, PDUS tenosynovitis (TS), and bone erosion were scored using a semi-quantitative scale. According to the ultrasound (US) results of the cutoff point, patients were divided into the alleviation group and the progression group. Laboratory results (erythrocyte sedimentation rate [ESR], C-reactive protein [CRP], rheumatoid factor [RF], anticyclic citrullinated peptide [anti-CCP] antibody, and anti-keratin antibody [AKA]), disease activity score in 28 joints (DAS28)-ESR, and US scores were compared between the two groups to analyze the prognostic value of US findings in RA.

RESULTS

The alleviation group had higher levels of CRP, synovitis, TS, GSUS synovitis, PDUS synovitis, PDUS TS, and US total scores at baseline than the progression group (p < 0.05). The alleviation group received more aggressive treatment in their initial approach than the progression group (p < 0.05). The frequency of US examinations in the alleviation group was more than that in the progression group at follow-up (p < 0.05). Presence of baseline synovitis (OR 0.248, p = 0.006) and a higher GSUS synovitis score (OR 0.521, p = 0.006) were negatively correlated with RA progression.

CONCLUSIONS

Presence of baseline synovitis and higher GSUS synovitis score do not always indicate worse prognosis of RA, which can be improved with aggressive treatment. Regular MSUS follow-up may have positive influences on prognosis. Key Points • The presence of synovitis at baseline and higher GSUS synovitis score do not necessarily imply poor prognosis of RA. • Prompt and powerful therapy and regular ultrasound follow-up can slow down the progression of RA and improve its prognosis. • Patients with slight and less arthritis at baseline might be ignored and get worse prognosis due to mild treatment strategies and irregular MSUS examination.