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Background: the course of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been of special concern in patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases (IRDs) due to the immune dysregulation that may be associated with these diseases and the medications used for IRDs, that may affect innate immune responses. Objective: in this cohort study, we aimed to report the disease characteristics and variables associated with COVID-19 outcome among Turkish patients with IRDs. Methods: between April and June, 2020, 167 adult IRD patients with COVID-19 were registered from 31 centers in 14 cities in Turkey. Disease outcome was classified in 4 categories; (i) outpatient management, (ii) hospitalization without oxygen requirement, (iii) hospitalization with oxygen requirement, and (iv) intensive care unit (ICU) admission or death. Multivariable ordinal logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine variables associated with a worse outcome. Results: 165 patients (mean age: 50 ± 15.6 years, 58.2% female) were included. Twenty-four patients (14.5%) recovered under outpatient management, 141 (85.5%) were hospitalized, 49 (30%) required inpatient oxygen support, 22 (13%) were treated in the ICU (17 received invasive mechanic ventilation) and 16 (10%) died. Glucocorticoid use (OR: 4.53, 95%CI 1.65-12.76), chronic kidney disease (OR: 12.8, 95%CI 2.25-103.5), pulmonary disease (OR: 2.66, 95%CI 1.08-6.61) and obesity (OR: 3.7, 95%CI 1.01-13.87) were associated with a worse outcome. Biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) do not seem to affect COVID-19 outcome while conventional synthetic DMARDs may have a protective effect (OR: 0.36, 95%CI 0.17-0.75). Estimates for the associations between IRD diagnoses and outcome were inconclusive. Conclusions: among IRD patients with COVID-19, comorbidities and glucocorticoid use were associated with a worse outcome, while biologic DMARDs do not seem to be associated with a worse outcome., NA

Changes in microbiota composition affect the aetiology and patho-genesis of chronic diseases, including Behçet's disease (BD). However, no studies have analysed the potential gut microbiota changes among different clinical forms of BD. This study evaluated the intestinal microbiota composition of patients with BD and healthy controls and also compared differences between patients with BD with respect to eye, mucocutaneous, and vascular involvement.In this prospective cohort study, 27 patients diagnosed with BD according to the International Study Group criteria and 10 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were included. Detailed intestinal microbiota analysis was performed.There were no differences between the BD group and the control group in terms of alpha and beta microbial diversity and abundance indices (p0.05). Actinomyces, Libanicoccus, Collinsella, Eggerthella, Enetrohabdus, Catenibacterium, and Enterobacter were significantly higher in the BD group than in the control group. In addition, Bacteroides, Cricetibacter, Alistipes, Lachnospira, Dielma, Akkermansia, Sutterella, Anaerofilum, Ruminococcease-UCG007, Acetanaerobacterium, and Copropaacter were lower in the BD group than in the control group. When we compared three different system involvement (eye, mucocutaneous, and vascular), the linear discriminant analysis effective size revealed a difference for the following genera: Lachnospiraceae NK4A136 in the uveitis group; Dialister, Intestinomonas, and Marvinbryantia in the mucocutaneous group; and Gemella in the vascular group.The composition of intestinal microbiota was significantly different in patients with BD compared with healthy adults. Ours is the first study to show differences in microbiota composition in isolated mucocutaneous, eye, and vascular involvement. These findings should be evaluated in a larger series.

To examine the prevalence of comorbid conditions in patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia.The retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted at Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Eskisehir, Turkey, and comprised data of fibromyalgia patients aged 18 years or more admitted between January 1, 2012 and August 15, 2016. Hospital's database was investigated using the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision codes to identify fibromyalgia cases and predetermined comorbid conditions. SPSS 21 was used for data analysis.Of 509 patients, 51(10%) were males and 458(90%) were females with an overall mean age of 50.24±12.32 years. Of the total, 345(67.8%) patients had at least one comorbid disease, while 164(32.2%) had no comorbid disease. The most prevalent condition was cardiovascular diseases in 187(36.7%) patients followed by endocrine diseases in 157(30.8%).Fibromyalgia is a disease that is seen to be increasing in frequency in recent years. It is useful to evaluate fibromyalgia patients with their comorbid conditions on their follow-up.

PubMedID: 24570027 Background Colchicine is the main treatment for familial Mediterranean fever (FMF). However, biological agents and other treatments are available for patients who are unable to receive optimal treatment. Objective To develop outcome criteria that define response to treatment. Methods Two rounds of Delphi exercise were followed by a consensus conference enabling the definition of the criteria to be employed. Data for patients with FMF responding and resistant to their treatment were obtained from the FMF Arthritis Vasculitis and Orphan disease Research in paediatric rheumatology (FAVOR) website. The suggested criteria were analysed and validated in this patient cohort. Sensitivity/specificity measures and the ability of the score to discriminate between patients with active and inactive disease via the best cut-off score were calculated by a receiver operating characteristic analysis. Results Compliance with the maximum dose of the drug was considered essential for evaluation of the patients. Seven criteria were suggested in the consensus conference. The performance of each criterion, in differentiating between resistant and responsive patients, was tested. The final set of criteria was defined as at least 50% improvement in five of six criteria, without worsening in any one defined response to treatment with a very high sensitivity and specificity. The items of this FMF50 included: 1. Percentage change in the frequency of attacks with the treatment. 2. Percentage change in the duration of attacks with the treatment. 3. Patients/parents' global assessment of disease severity (10 cm visual analogue scale (VAS)). 4. Physicians' global assessment of disease severity (10 cm VAS). 5. Percentage change in arthritis attacks with the treatment. 6. Percentage change in C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate or serum amyloid A level with the treatment. Conclusions The FMF50 produced is a user-friendly measurement tool to guide physicians and can be used in clinical trials.

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have reported that cardiovascular involvement in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) occurs frequently. Although ventricular functions of RA have been investigated through the standard Doppler in RA, they have yet to be investigated thoroughly by means of the relatively new and advantageous tissue Doppler imaging (TDI). The present study aims to investigate left and right ventricular functions in RA patients by means of TDI and standard Doppler echocardiography. METHODS: A total of 60 patients with longstanding RA and 40 control subjects were included in the study and their left and right ventricular functions were assessed by standard pulsed-wave Doppler echocardiography, the color M-mode flow propagation velocity, and TDI. The left ventricular TDI was achieved at four different sites (lateral, septal, anterior, and inferior walls), while the right ventricular TDI was achieved through the tricuspid lateral annulus. RESULTS: When compared with controls, the RA group showed that basal clinic and echocardiographic parameters, early (E) and late (A) diastolic velocities of atrioventricular valves, E/A ratio, and pulmonary venous Doppler parameters of these two groups were similar. It was determined that left and right ventricular E-wave deceleration times and isovolumic relaxation times of the RA patients were determined to have increased in comparison with those of the subjects in the healthy Control Group (P < 0.05). RA patients had significantly lower color M-mode flow propagation velocity (P < 0.05). While S' peak and E' peak, two of the left and right ventricular TDI parameters, were similar in both groups, A' peak, E'/A', and E/E' parameters in RA showed statistically significant differences in RA patients. CONCLUSION: A comparison between age and sex of RA patients and healthy individuals revealed that left and right ventricular TDI parameters of RA patients were impaired, which led us to conclude that both of the ventricles could have been involved.