Overweight and obesity affect clinical assessment of synovitis in rheumatoid arthritis: comparison of ultrasonography and clinical exam.

Objectives: Body mass index (BMI) might affect rheumatoid arthritis (RA) outcomes. Clinical assessment of swollen joint count (SJC) might also be affected by obesity in terms of obesity-related excess adipose tissue. In this study, we compared ultrasonography (US) and clinical examination in assessing the effect of BMI on RA disease activity assessment.

Enthesopathy in rheumatoid arthritis and spondyloarthritis: An ultrasound study.

Objective: We aimed to compare the prevalence of enthesopathy seen on ultrasonography (US) in spondyloarthritis (SpA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and compared it to healthy controls.

Methods: All included patients with RA (2010 ACR/EULAR criteria) and SpA (ASAS criteria) and healthy controls underwent clinical and US evaluation of enthesis at seven sites (quadriceps, proximal and distal patellar, Achilles and triceps tendons, plantar aponeurosis and lateral epicondyle enthesis). The Glasgow Ultrasound Enthesitis Scoring System (GUESS) and the Madrid Sonographic Enthesitis Index (MASEI) scores were determined by two sonographers blinded to clinical data.

Arthritis secondary to meningococcal disease: A case series of 7 patients.

Arthritis secondary to invasive meningococcemia is rare and has been described as a direct result of bacteremia or as immunoallergic-type arthritis, related to the immune complex. Only a few case series have been reported.This multicenter study aimed to describe the clinical characteristics and therapeutic outcomes of arthritis secondary to meningococcal infection.

Shared genetic predisposition in rheumatoid arthritis-interstitial lung disease and familial pulmonary fibrosis.

Despite its high prevalence and mortality, little is known about the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD). Given that familial pulmonary fibrosis (FPF) and RA-ILD frequently share the usual pattern of interstitial pneumonia and common environmental risk factors, we hypothesised that the two diseases might share additional risk factors, including FPF-linked genes. Our aim was to identify coding mutations of FPF-risk genes associated with RA-ILD.