Publications by authors named "Maria Jesus Garcia Villanueva"

Article Synopsis
  • Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH) is a severe and uncommon complication in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, with early diagnosis and treatment critical for improving survival rates.
  • In a study from the RELESSER register, 37 out of 4024 SLE patients experienced DAH, with notable characteristics including a high prevalence of women and links to renal issues and thrombocytopenia.
  • Factors associated with higher mortality in DAH patients included smoking, prior lupus nephritis, infections, and the use of cyclophosphamide, with a mortality rate of 35.7% observed in the cohort.
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Objective: To assess organ damage, with emphasis on the cardiovascular system, over the different stages of the disease in a large SLE cohort.

Methods: Multicentre, longitudinal study of a cohort of 4219 patients with SLE enrolled in the Spanish Society of Rheumatology Lupus Registry. Organ damage was ascertained using the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology Damage Index (SDI).

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Objective: To develop an improved score for prediction of severe infection in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), namely, the SLE Severe Infection Score-Revised (SLESIS-R) and to validate it in a large multicentre lupus cohort.

Methods: We used data from the prospective phase of RELESSER (RELESSER-PROS), the SLE register of the Spanish Society of Rheumatology. A multivariable logistic model was constructed taking into account the variables already forming the SLESIS score, plus all other potential predictors identified in a literature review.

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Objectives: To provide an overview on the current use of belimumab (BLM) in SLE patients in clinical practice and to examine its efficacy in terms of standardized outcomes, drug survival, as well as patient and safety profiles.

Methods: A longitudinal retrospective multicenter cohort including SLE patients treated with BLM at 18 Spanish centers. Data was collected upon initiation of BLM, at 6 and 12 months after initiation, and at the last recorded visit.

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Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is associated with systemic inflammatory processes and metabolic alterations. Microbial-derived metabolites, such as short-chain fatty acids and trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), have emerged in recent years as key players in the modulation of inflammation, with potential implications for cardiovascular diseases. We performed a prospective observational study that monitored the serological concentration of bacterial metabolites in 45 young patients (<55 years) without cardiovascular risk factors but with AMI, at hospital admission and at 3 months of follow-up, and compared them with a control group.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to analyze the diagnostic methods for giant cell arteritis (GCA) in clinical practice and the impact of EULAR recommendations on these methods.
  • A retrospective analysis included 1,675 GCA patients across 26 hospitals in Spain, finding that temporal artery biopsy (TAB) was initially the most common diagnostic test but usage declined over time.
  • Imaging techniques, particularly ultrasound, significantly increased in use from 2013 to 2019, suggesting a shift in preference for non-invasive diagnostic methods influenced by recent guidelines.
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Objectives: To evaluate the properties of a single question to determine patient perception of remission and disease activity; to compare this with existing definitions for remission and low disease activity (LDA).

Methods: Single-center, cross-sectional study in a tertiary care hospital. Patients with axSpA (fulfilling ASAS criteria) were consecutively included.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study analyzed how common major central nervous system issues are in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and their impact on survival and mortality.
  • Out of 3,591 SLE patients, 11.5% experienced significant CNS neuropsychiatric problems, leading to higher annual mortality rates, particularly from cerebrovascular disease and organic brain syndrome.
  • The findings indicate that major CNS complications significantly increase mortality risk, with specific issues like CVD and organic brain syndrome having the worst survival outcomes.
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Background: Belimumab was the first biological drug approved for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). There is not a review focusing on all real-life experience with belimumab to date that could help to describe how this drug behaves in the Spanish clinical setting.

Objective: To describe the characteristics of SLE patients treated with belimumab added to standard of care in real-clinical setting in Spain.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aims to evaluate how different targeted therapies and other factors impact COVID-19 hospitalisation risk in patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases.
  • A cohort of 7,782 patients was analyzed, revealing that while most targeted therapies weren't linked to increased hospitalisation risk, TNF inhibitors significantly lowered it, while rituximab appeared to increase risk.
  • Key demographics and comorbidities, alongside COVID-19 symptoms, also influenced hospitalisation likelihood, indicating that multiple factors play a role in patient outcomes.
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Objective: To describe the cohort of patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases (IRD) hospitalized due to SARS-CoV-2 infection in the Ramón y Cajal Hospital, and to determine the increased risk of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in patients with no IRD.

Methods: This is a retrospective single-center observational study of patients with IRD actively monitored in the Department of Rheumatology who were hospitalized due to COVID-19.

Results: Forty-one (1.

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Objectives: This article estimates the frequency of polyautoimmunity and associated factors in a large retrospective cohort of patients with SLE.

Methods: RELESSER (Spanish Society of Rheumatology Lupus Registry) is a nationwide multicentre, hospital-based registry of SLE patients. This is a cross-sectional study.

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Objectives: The Xq28 region, containing IRAK and MECP2, represent a common susceptibility locus for a high number of autoimmune diseases. Our aim in the present study was to evaluate the influence of the IRAK1 and MECP2 autoimmunity-associated genetic variants in the giant cell arteritis (GCA) susceptibility and its clinical subphenotypes.

Methods: We analysed a total of 627 female biopsy-proven GCA patients and 1,520 female healthy controls of Spanish Caucasian origin.

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Amyloidosis is an uncommon syndrome consisting of a number of disorders having in common an extracellular deposit of fibrillary proteins. This results in functional and structural changes in the affected organs, depending on deposit location and severity. Amyloid infiltration of the thyroid gland may occur in 50% and up to 80% of patients with primary and secondary amyloidosis respectively.

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We report the case of a 72-year-old man with history of ankylosing spondylitis, who, during the treatment with infliximab, developed painful, erythematous-violaceous plaques with later development of ulcers on his feet associated with cold exposure. Concomitantly with the appearance of these lesions, he presented increased antinuclear antibodies (ANA) titers, positivity for anti-DNA and IgM anticardiolipin antibodies, low complement levels, polyclonal hypergammaglobulinemia, and lymphopenia. He was diagnosed of chilblain lupus induced by infliximab, this agent was withdrawn and initiated treatment for chilblains with improvement of lesions.

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