Characterization of Patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis Receiving Secukinumab and Reasons for Initiating Treatment: A US Physician Survey and Retrospective Medical Chart Review.

Objectives: To characterize US patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) who were treated with secukinumab and to assess rheumatologist-reported reasons for prescribing treatment in clinical practice.

Methods: This descriptive analysis of data from a US retrospective medical chart review included patients aged ≥ 18 years diagnosed with AS who initiated secukinumab after 15 January 2016. Eligible rheumatologists used online forms to collect patient demographics, disease characteristics, co-morbidity profile, and treatment history prior to or on the index date, defined as the date of the first secukinumab prescription recorded in the medical chart.

Characteristics of Patients with Psoriatic Arthritis Receiving Secukinumab and Reasons for Initiation: A US Retrospective Medical Chart Review.

Introduction: Secukinumab is a fully human anti-interleukin 17A monoclonal antibody approved for the treatment of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in the United States. Few studies have investigated prescribing patterns among rheumatologists who have initiated secukinumab for the treatment of patients with PsA in real-world settings. This US medical chart review describes clinical and treatment characteristics of patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) who were prescribed secukinumab and rheumatologist-reported reasons for prescribing secukinumab in clinical practice.

Staphylococcus aureus sepsis in rheumatoid arthritis.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are at increased risk of infection. In this study, we determined the risk of and risk factors for Staphyococcus aureus (S. aureus) sepsis in RA.

Change in fibrosis score as a predictor of mortality among HIV-infected patients with viral hepatitis.

Noninvasive markers of liver fibrosis, measured at baseline, have been shown to predict liver-related mortality. It remains unknown if a change in the value of the scores over time predicts mortality in patients with HIV and viral hepatitis. In this retrospective study, survival in HIV/hepatitis B virus (HBV; n = 67), HIV/hepatitis C virus (HCV; n = 43), and HIV/HBV/HCV (n = 41) patients was examined using Kaplan-Meier life table analysis.

Is there a higher genetic load of susceptibility loci in familial ankylosing spondylitis?

Objective: Several genetic risk variants for ankylosing spondylitis (AS) have been identified in genome-wide association studies. Our objective was to examine whether familial AS cases have a higher genetic load of these susceptibility variants.

Methods: Overall, 502 AS patients were examined, consisting of 312 patients who had first-degree relatives (FDRs) with AS (familial) and 190 patients who had no FDRs with AS or spondylarthritis (sporadic).