Search

Although telemedicine use has been under discussion for decades, this topic has gained unprecedented importance during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease Activity Index (RADAI) is a user-friendly tool, fully self-administered, to assess rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity. The aim of this study was to compare the performance of RADAI with other disease activity indices, functional status, and inflammatory markers in a large cohort of RA patients.We assessed the concurrent validity of RADAI against Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI), Disease Activity Score in 28 Joints-C-reactive protein, Disease Activity Score in 28 Joints-erythrocyte sedimentation rate, Simplified Disease Activity Index, and physician assessment of disease activity and the correlation of RADAI with Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index and inflammatory markers at the REAL Study baseline. We also evaluated the correlation of the change in RADAI and the change in CDAI over a 6-month follow-up.From the 1115 patients included in the REAL Study, 1113 had RADAI scores in the first assessment. At baseline, correlations between RADAI and other disease activity indices were strong, ranging from 0.64 (comparison with physician assessment) to 0.79 (comparison with CDAI). Correlation between the change in RADAI score over the 6 months of follow-up and the change in CDAI score over the same period was moderate/strong for the overall group and within the stratified analyses.The strong correlation of RADAI with other well-established tools for disease activity measurement reassures its use with RA patients' follow-up, especially in this new era of telemedicine.

Background In Brazil, socioeconomic differences in the incidence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have been demonstrated, which are important in the formulation of hypotheses regarding the association between environmental factors, lifestyle and the risk of disease development. This study examines how the socioeconomic condition of the patient with RA in Brazil, assessed according to social class, educational level, employment situation and use of caregivers, affects the times between the beginning of symptoms and diagnosis and the beginning of the use of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, as well as the presence of erosive disease and functional status. Methods This work is part of a multicentric study called REAL - Rheumatoid Arthritis in Real Life in Brazil, which is a prospective observational cohort study. Results As described in the REAL study, we included a total of 1115 patients. It was noted that patients with an educational classification of up to second grade incomplete presented with erosion percentages above those with a higher grade complete. Patients with caregivers presented a higher percentage of erosion than patients without caregivers. We verified that patients from economic classes above B2 presented fewer occurrences of erosion than those from classes C2, D-E. We also analyzed the average time differences from the beginning of symptoms and diagnosis and the beginning of treatment, according to academic level, erosion and economic classification. Patients with first grade complete showed an HAQ-DI averages higher than those with second grade complete. The patients who had employment showed lower HAQ-DI averages than patients who were not employed. The patients with erosion showed an HAQ-DI value higher than those without erosion. Patients with caregivers showed an HAQ-DI average higher than that of without caregivers. Conclusion This study showed that the therapeutic window of RA is not being reached, and therefore we should have a policy to expand and ensure access to public health for all patients, especially those with lower levels of education and income. Trial registration This study was approved by the National Commission of Ethics in Research.

OBJECTIVE The aims of this study were to assess cardiovascular risk in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) classified as low-risk by the Framingham score, before and after the multiplication by 1.5 recommended by the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR), and to stratify them using carotid and femoral Doppler ultrasound (DUS) in order to optimize the assessment of the asymptomatic cardiovascular disease incidence. METHODS Thirty-five female patients with RA and 35 healthy women (control group), both with low cardiovascular risk by Framingham score, were enrolled in the study (randomized). All of them underwent carotid and femoral DUS studies. RESULTS The mean age at diagnosis was 44.57 years, the mean disease duration was 12.11 years and the mean disease activity score according to the Disease Activity Score 28 was 1.91, whereas according to the Clinical Disease Activity Index, it was 6.176. The sample was homogeneous. Within the RA group, 46% showed changes in the carotid and/or femoral DUS, compared with 14% in the control group (p = 0.004). Of the DUS with abnormalities, in the RA group, 31% of the carotid DUS and 81% of the femoral DUS (p = 0.005) showed intima-media thickness and/or atherosclerotic plaques. After EULAR 1.5 multiplication factor, 66% remained low cardiovascular risk. Of these, 35% of the patients showed changes in the carotid and/or femoral DUS, compared with 14% of the control group (p = 0.07). CONCLUSIONS The EULAR criteria are effective at identifying patients with high cardiovascular risk. Carotid DUS and, especially, femoral DUS are tools that can be used in clinical practice as ways to detect CVD even in its asymptomatic form.

Background:Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with high frequency of comorbidities and increased risk of polypharmacy. Although there is a great potential for complications, there is a gap in literature on polypharmacy in patients with rheumatic arthritis.Objective:To evaluate the prevalence and factors associated with polypharmacy in a population in a real-life setting.Methods:A cross-sectional multicenter study was conducted in Brazil. Patients underwent clinical evaluation and medical records analysis. Polypharmacy was considered as a dependent variable. To test independent variables, we used Poisson regression.Results:We evaluated 792 patients (89% female, median age 56.6 years). Median duration of disease was 12.7 years, 78.73% had a positive rheumatoid factor. The median of disease activity score-28 was 3.5 (disease with mild activity), median of the clinical disease activity index score was 9, and median of health assessment questionnaire-disability index was 0.875; 47% used corticosteroids, 9.1% used nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, 90.9% used synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, 35.7% used biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). In total, 537 (67.9%) patients used 5 or more drugs. Polypharmacy showed a relationship with a number of comorbidities and use of specific drugs (corticosteroids, methotrexate, and biological DMARDs).Conclusion:We found a high prevalence of polypharmacy (67.9%) in RA. Solutions to management this problem should be stimulated.

Systemic lupus erythematosus juvenile (SLEJ) is a multi-systemic, chronic inflammatory disease, and with autoimmune features. Some clinical manifestations of this disease are similar to those found inAcquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Coexistence of AIDS with SLEJ is rare, especially in the pediatric population, being described in the literature just 5 patients with congenital HIV infection who developed this rheumatological condition, presenting lupus nephritis as the initial manifestation. We report the case of a 14 year old patient, diagnosed with HIV infection at 8 months of age, with signs and symptoms of SLEJ. This report aims to describe a female patient with AIDS who developed SLE in its classic and forms, but has evolved satisfactorily