Epidemiology, burden of disease, and unmet needs in the treatment of ulcerative colitis in Asia.

Introduction: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an idiopathic, chronic inflammatory disease of the colon, characterized by relapsing and remitting symptoms. Although traditionally viewed as a Western disease, the incidence and prevalence of UC is increasing in developing regions, including Asian countries.

Areas Covered: A PubMed search identified articles describing epidemiology, disease burden, patient demographics, clinical characteristics, risk factors, and treatment of UC across Asia.

Tofacitinib in the treatment of Indian patients with rheumatoid arthritis: A post hoc analysis of efficacy and safety in Phase 3 and long-term extension studies over 7 years.

Objectives: Tofacitinib is an oral Janus kinase inhibitor for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We characterized tofacitinib efficacy/safety in Indian vs rest of the world (ROW; excluding India) RA patients.

Methods: Efficacy data were pooled for disease-modified antirheumatic drug (DMARD) inadequate responders from Phase (P)3 studies.

Burden of atopic dermatitis in Asia.

Atopic dermatitis is a chronic, inflammatory skin disease characterized by intense pruritus and eczematous lesions. It is considered one of the most common chronic conditions, with an estimated global prevalence of nearly 230 million. As in the rest of the world, prevalence of atopic dermatitis has been increasing in Asian countries over the last few decades.

Longterm Drug Survival of Tumor Necrosis Factor Inhibitors in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Objective: To evaluate longterm drug survival (proportion of patients still receiving treatment) and discontinuation of etanercept (ETN), infliximab (IFX), adalimumab (ADA), certolizumab pegol (CZP), and golimumab (GOL) using observational data from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: Following a systematic literature review, drug survival at 12 and 12-24 months of followup was estimated by summing proportions of patients continuing treatment and dividing by number of studies. Drug survival at ≥ 36 months of followup was estimated through Metaprop.

A Review on the Effect of Tumor Necrosis Factor Inhibitors on Structural Progression in Early Axial Spondyloarthritis Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Introduction: Considering the progressive nature of axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), it is important to determine whether tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) inhibitors have an effect on early inflammatory and structural lesions detected using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Methods: A search of MEDLINE/PubMed for full-text, English-language articles on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of adalimumab, certolizumab, etanercept, golimumab, or infliximab published since January 2007 was conducted in February 2018 and again in December 2018. The collected articles reported on inflammatory or fatty lesion progression in the spine or sacroiliac joint (SIJ), determined using MRI, in a population that included at least 40% of patients with early axSpA, defined as non-radiographic axSpA.

Flourine-18 flourodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography as a non-invasive test of disease activity in Takayasu's arteritis--a report of four cases.

Background: Takayasu's arteritis (TA) is a rare disease affecting the large arteries, particularly the aorta. Standard test to demonstrate abnormal vascular anatomy is angiography. This invasive procedure is limited in differentiating inflammatory and fibrotic lesions.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension among Filipino patients with connective tissue diseases.

We describe the clinical features, therapies, and clinical course of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in a group of Filipinos with connective tissue diseases (CTDs). We retrospectively reviewed the records of patients diagnosed with PAH by a two-dimensional echocardiogram as a tricuspid regurgitant jet of more than 25 mmHg. All patients had underlying CTDs, defined by the American College of Rheumatology criteria, and were seen at the rheumatology clinics of the University of Santo Tomas Hospital and the St.