Is glucocorticoid bridging therapy associated with later use of glucocorticoids and biological DMARDs during the disease course of patients with rheumatoid arthritis in daily practice? A real-world data analysis.

Objective: To evaluate if initially starting glucocorticoid (GC) bridging leads to a higher probability of long-term GC and biological (b)DMARD use in rheumatoid arthritis (RA)-patients.

Methods: Electronical health records data from newly diagnosed RA-patients from the Leiden University Medical Center were used. Patients who started GC as part of initial treatment (iGC group) and who did not (niGC group) were compared in terms of GC and bDMARD use later in the disease course.

?-A Digital Diagnostic Decision Support Tool for Individuals Suspecting Rheumatic Diseases: A Multicenter Pilot Validation Study.

Introduction: Digital diagnostic decision support tools promise to accelerate diagnosis and increase health care efficiency in rheumatology. is an online tool developed by specialists in rheumatology and general medicine together with patients and patient organizations. It calculates a risk score for several rheumatic diseases.

Handwork vs machine: a comparison of rheumatoid arthritis patient populations as identified from EHR free-text by diagnosis extraction through machine-learning or traditional criteria-based chart review.

Background: Electronic health records (EHRs) offer a wealth of observational data. Machine-learning (ML) methods are efficient at data extraction, capable of processing the information-rich free-text physician notes in EHRs. The clinical diagnosis contained therein represents physician expert opinion and is more consistently recorded than classification criteria components.

Machine Learning Electronic Health Record Identification of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: Algorithm Pipeline Development and Validation Study.

Background: Financial codes are often used to extract diagnoses from electronic health records. This approach is prone to false positives. Alternatively, queries are constructed, but these are highly center and language specific.

Macrophage-T suppressor cell interference in the lungs of steroid-treated sarcoidosis patients.

In the bronchoalveolar lavage of sarcoidosis patients the mononuclear cell infiltrate was enumerated on T helper and suppressor lymphocytes as well as macrophages by means of a triple-staining assay on cytospin slides. As was seen on the slides, lymphocytes were often adhered very closely to macrophages. This phenomenon, many times described but not understood, was studied in a group of 13 sarcoidosis patients, of whom 7 received prednisolone treatment.