Background: Infections increase mortality and morbidity and often limit immunosuppressive treatment in rheumatoid arthritis patients.
Objective: To analyze the occurrence of serious infections and the associated factors in a cohort of rheumatoid arthritis patients under real-life conditions.
Methods: We analyzed data from the REAL, a prospective observational study, that evaluated Brazilian RA patients, with clinical and laboratory data collected over a year.
Adv Rheumatol
June 2021
Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common autoimmune systemic inflammatory disease. In addition to joint involvement, RA patients frequently have other comorbidities, such as cardiovascular diseases. Drugs used for RA treatment may increase or decrease the risk of a cardiovascular event.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClin Rheumatol
August 2019
Objective: Most reports on serious infections (SI) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients treated with biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) are from the USA and Western Europe. Data from other regions are largely missing. We report data from South American countries with different backgrounds and health-care systems but similar registries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
April 2019
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View Article and Find Full Text PDFRev Bras Reumatol Engl Ed
October 2018
Introduction: Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that causes systemic involvement and is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Objective: To analyze the prediction index of 10-year risk of a fatal cardiovascular disease event in female RA patients versus controls.
Methods: Case-control study with analysis of 100 female patients matched for age and gender versus 100 patients in the control group.
Treatment survival with biological therapy may be influenced by many factors, and it seems to be different among various rheumatic diseases and biological agents. The goal of the study was to compare the drug survival and the causes of discontinuation of anti-tumoral necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapy in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Study participants were a cohort from the Brazilian Registry of Biological Therapies in Rheumatic Diseases (BIOBADABRASIL) between 2008 and 2012.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPeripheral ulcerative keratitis is caused by an inflammatory and destructive process of the perilimbal peripheral cornea. This inflammation is due to immune complex deposition in this region of the cornea and in adjacent vessels. It can be idiopathic, or a manifestation of systemic disease such as rheumatoid arthritis, vasculitis of small vessels associated with ANCA, relapsing polychondritis, systemic lupus erythematosus and Crohn's disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRheumatol Int
February 2015
Spondyloarthritis (SpA) is a musculoskeletal inflammatory disease linked with immune responses to intestinal microbiota, and subclinical intestinal ulcerations that are closely related to inflammatory bowel diseases. Helicobacter pylori is a common cause of gastroduodenal ulceration, and anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies (ASCA) are associated with intestinal inflammation in both Crohn disease (CD) and SpA. We investigated the relationship between H.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStudies have demonstrated the important role of bone remodelling and osteoimmunology in the progression of inflammatory lesions in axial spondyloarthritis (SpA) disease. This study was conducted to evaluate the inflammatory response by analysis of the serum levels of pro-inflammatory and new bone formation markers in patients with axial SpA who were treated or not treated with anti-tumour necrosis factor-α (anti-TNF-α) or non-steroidal drugs (NSAIDs) and to identify whether these drugs modify the activity and severity of the disease. The serum levels of myeloperoxidase (MPO), adenosine deaminase (ADA), nitric oxide metabolites (NOx), bone alkaline phosphatase (BAP), Dickkopf-1 (DKK-1), and osteoprotegerin (OP) were measured in 52 SpA patients who were treated or not with anti-TNF-α or NSAIDs and in 26 healthy controls using colourimetric and enzyme immunoassay tests.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To evaluate the prevalence of subclinical atherosclerosis in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in comparison to controls with similar cardiovascular risk factors.
Methods: Forty-two consecutive patients with AS and 42 controls matched for age (43.3 ± 11.
Calcification and ossification of the ligamentum flavum or of the posterior longitudinal ligament are causes of compressive myelopathy, more frequent in the lower thoracic levels, and extremely rare in Western populations. Surgical decompression is the only therapy, but the disease is usually progressive, and its recurrence after surgery is common. Inflammatory mediators might play a role in the progression of compressive myelopathy, but, to our knowledge, the therapeutic approach involving anti-inflammatory agents has never been tried before.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Musculoskeletal conditions have an enormous and growing impact worldwide. In spite of that, some clinicians are not confident in their own musculoskeletal examination skills. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in an emergency room, and the frequency of musculoskeletal physical examination description on those cases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study was to describe clinical features and response to different therapeutic interventions, including anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) agents, in a case series of Takayasu arteritis (TA) from Brazil. A retrospective observational chart-review study was performed including all patients meeting the American College of Rheumatology TA classification criteria followed at the rheumatology outpatient clinic of a Brazilian university hospital. Fifteen patients were included, of which 14 (93.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAcquired angioedema is caused by different drugs and lymphoproliferative diseases, and rarely it has also been related to the presence of auto-immune disorders. We report the case of a 47 year old female with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and severe cutaneous involvement who developed recurrent localized angioedema of the face, including lips and eye lids, upper limbs, and thorax, not associated with urticaria, and with reduced levels of C1 esterase inhibitor. Treatment with antimalarials, glucocorticoids, and pulse therapy with methylprednisolone associated with azathioprine did not improve her condition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClin Rheumatol
July 2010
Shrinking lungs syndrome (SLS) is a rare entity associated with autoimmune diseases and its underlying pathogenesis is still unclear. We describe a series of seven consecutive cases of SLS in systemic lupus erythematosus, all of them with serositis and six (85.7%) with anti-Ro/SSA antibodies.
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