Real-World Treatment Patterns and Healthcare Resource Use for Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's Disease in Italy.

Introduction: Real-world data are used to inform decision-makers and optimise therapeutic management for patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD). We analysed data on the epidemiology (by using proxies of prevalence and incidence), patient characteristics, treatment patterns and associated healthcare direct costs for the management of patients with UC and patients with CD in Italy.

Methods: This retrospective observational study used administrative databases from eight Local Health Units geographically distributed across Italy.

Association between excision margins and local recurrence in 1407 patients with primary in situ melanomas.

Background: Reliable evidence to guide the management of melanoma in situ (MIS) and minimize the risk of recurrence is lacking.

Objective: To identify clinicopathological predictors of local recurrence (LR) in patients with MIS and evaluate long-term outcomes according to pathological excision margins.

Methods: A case-control study of patients with MIS treated at a large Australian melanoma treatment center from January 2008 to December 2012 was undertaken.

Efficacy and safety of baricitinib in 446 patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a real-life multicentre study.

Objectives: Baricitinib, an oral Janus kinase (JAK) 1-2 inhibitor, is currently used along biologic DMARDs (bDMARDs) after the failure of methotrexate (MTX) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We investigated the efficacy and safety of baricitinib in real life.

Methods: We prospectively enrolled 446 RA patients treated with baricitinib from 11 Italian centres.

COVID 19: a clue from innate immunity.

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on our lives and has rapidly expanded to reach more than 4 million cases worldwide by May 2020. These cases are characterized by extreme variability, from a mild or asymptomatic form lasting for a few days up to severe forms of interstitial pneumonia that may require ventilatory therapy and can lead to patient death.Several hypotheses have been drawn up to understand the role of the interaction between the infectious agent and the immune system in the development of the disease and the most severe forms; the role of the cytokine storm seems important.

One-year effectiveness, retention rate, and safety of secukinumab in ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis: a real-life multicenter study.

Background: Secukinumab (SEC) is effective for ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in randomized trials, but real-life data are lacking.

Research Design And Methods: Real-life, prospective observational study on 169 consecutive outpatients at baseline (T0) and at 6 (T6) and 12 months (T12) after starting SEC (39 AS, 23%; 130 PsA, 77%).

Results: Significant improvement was seen at T6 and T12 for all clinical variables, including TJC, SJC, ESR, CRP, DAPSA, ASDAS-CRP, and BASDAI, as well as in patient-reported outcomes like VAS-pain.

Sixth-month remission as a predictor for twelve-month remission in polymyalgia rheumatica.

Objectives: To investigate clinical and laboratory prognostic factors of remission after one year of follow-up in patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) treated with low-dose prednisone.

Methods: In this observational study, in a monocentric Italian Rheumatology Unit, we enrolled eighty-one consecutive PMR patients. Clinical and laboratory tests were performed every 3 months.

PsA-Disk, a novel visual instrument to evaluate psoriatic arthritis in psoriatic patients: an Italian derma-rheuma multicentre study.

Background: Consensus among dermatologists and rheumatologists in the diagnosis and assessment of musculoskeletal diseases in psoriasis (PsO) patients is needed. This study assesses characteristics of musculoskeletal pain in patients with PsO for the presence of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and evaluation of a novel 16-item visual instrument (PsA-Disk).

Methods: Data were collected from eight dermatological/rheumatological centres across Italy.

Demographic and clinical differences between ankylosing spondylitis and non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis: results from a multicentre retrospective study in the Lazio region of Italy.

Objectives: Axial spondyloarthritides (axSpA) are a group of disorders that share similar pathogenetic mechanisms and clinical picture. The aim of this retrospective multicentric study was to evaluate demographic and clinical differences between ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and non-radiographic axSpA (nr-axSpA) patients.

Methods: Patients from 7 rheumatological centres in the Lazio region of Italy were included from January 1st, 2010 to April 1st, 2018, if they had undergone pelvic and/or spine radiographs or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Differential synovial tissue biomarkers among psoriatic arthritis and rheumatoid factor/anti-citrulline antibody-negative rheumatoid arthritis.

Background: Differential diagnosis among psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and seronegative rheumatoid arthritis (Ab RA) can be challenging particularly in the clinical setting of peripheral phenotype and autoantibodies seronegativity. The aim of the study was to identify synovial tissue (ST) biomarkers differentially expressed in PsA and Ab RA and test their predictive value of therapeutic response.

Methods: Thirty-four PsA patients [12 DMARD naive and 22 non-responder to methotrexate (MTX-IR)] with peripheral joint involvement and 55 Ab RA (27 DMARD naive and 28 MTX-IR) underwent US-guided ST biopsy and immunohistochemistry (IHC) for CD68, CD3, CD20, CD21, CD117, and CD138 cells.