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On August 31,2023 in V.A. Nasonova Research Institute of Rheumatology a meeting of the Expert Council was held at which the principal investigators and co-investigators of the ARTNEO-2021 protocol "Multicenter randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled study of ARTNEO in patients with stage II-III primary knee osteoarthritis" was held. A consensus position was developed on the possibility and feasibility of using a combination of undenatured (native) type II collagen, methylsulfonylmethane, boswellic acids, vitamins C and D (ARTNEO complex) in clinical practice. Based on the results of the study, the use of the ARTNEO complex can be recommended as part of a complex therapy for patients with osteoarthritis as a course treatment with total duration up to 6 months. The results of the study can only be interpreted in relation to ARTNEO and cannot be transferred to preparations with a different composition.

Objective: to evaluate the effectiveness of therapy with AMBENE®Bio (AB) in comparison with the comparator drug (bioactive concentrate of small marine fish, BCSMF) in patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of large and small joints in routine clinical practice.Patients and methods. KOLIBRI multicenter, observational, non-randomized, comparative study included 233 patients with OA of the small hand joints (HJ) or knee joints (KJ) from three Russian centers (two in Moscow and one in Tula). Patients with a generalized form of OA were excluded from the analysis. The remaining patients were divided into two groups depending on the localization of OA. The first group included 174 patients with knee OA, 105 of them received AB, and 69 received the reference drug (BCSMF) according to the same regimen. The second group consisted of 21 women with HJ OA: 13 patients were prescribed AB, and 8 — the reference drug.The duration of the study averaged 330±14 days, the total number of visits was 4. The main indicator of effectiveness was the dynamics of pain during movement according to VAS (0—100 mm) 30±7 days after the start of treatment compared with the baseline value. All patients underwent radiography of the HJ and KJ, as well as ultrasound of the involved joints.Results and discussion. Both drugs provided significant clinical improvement in patients with OA, which is consistent with other studies with similar design and long follow-up. These data confirm the symptom-modifying properties of the presented group of combined drugs in the OA treatment. The Russian injectable drug AB in OA was not inferior in effectiveness to the foreign BCSMF. According to the OMERACT-OARSI criteria, 85.2% and 88.9% of patients, respectively, responded to treatment with AB and the reference drug. In both groups, half of the patients managed to stop further use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on a regular basis.Conclusion. The use of AB was accompanied not only by a decrease in the severity of clinical symptoms of OA, but also by a decrease in the daily requirement for NSAIDs almost by 2 times.

Currently, the list of microorganisms that have a possible connection with the development of rheumatoid arthritis continues to be updated. The role of not only traditional pathogens, but also representatives of conditionally pathogenic microflora is being actively studied. A number of domestic and foreign works demonstrate a high degree of Helicobacter pylori infection in patients with rheumatic diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis.The aim of the present study is to identify the frequency of detection of Helicobacter pylori infection in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and in adult residents of the city of Tula.Material and methods. The study included 3288 residents of Tula who do not have rheumatic diseases, and 119 patients with rheumatoid arthritis. To detect the infection, FEGDS was performed according to the generally accepted method with the taking of biopsies of the mucous membrane of the antrum and the stomach body, followed by verification of Helicobacter pylori using the Helpil-test test system.Results. According to the results of the data on the infection rate of residents of Tula without rheumatic diseases (n=3288), the largest percentage of infected (78.8%) was detected by an invasive method – express diagnosis of urease activity of the biopsy. The detection rate using a respiratory ammonia test and serological method was lower and amounted to 51.1 and 49.3%, respectively. In total, H. pylori was detected in 1692 people, which was 51.46%. Among patients with rheumatoid arthritis, Helicobacter pylori infection was 81.5%. Signs of damage to the mucous membrane of the upper gastrointestinal tract were often detected: superficial and subatrophic gastritis, single erosions.Conclusions. 1. Based on the study, it was found that the infection rate of Helicobacter pylori in patients with rheumatoid arthritis is at a fairly high level, not significantly different from that in residents without rheumatic diseases, when examined by an invasive method – express diagnosis of urease activity of the biopsy (81.5% and 78.8%, respectively). 2. Among patients with rheumatoid arthritis, there was a tendency to increase the frequency of infection with age and peak values in older age groups (r=0.37; p˂ 0.05). 3. The frequency of detection of erosive and ulcerative lesions of the gastrointestinal tract in infected and uninfected Helicobacter pylori patients with rheumatoid arthritis significantly differed (42.2 and 13.6%) (p=0.03).

To date, there are numerous studies on the effect of COVID-19 on the course of autoimmune rheumatic diseases and the value of vaccination in preventing this dangerous viral infection.Objective: to assess the effect of coronavirus infection on the course of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the severity of infection, the effect of current baseline therapy on infection outcomes, and the role of vaccination against COVID-19.Patients and methods. 134 patients with a reliable diagnosis of RA were interviewed and their outpatient records analysed during the pandemic period from January 2020 to July 2021.Results. Most of the patients were in the older age group (62.7 years on average), had an average disease duration of 13 years, low to moderate RA activity, comorbidities including arterial hypertension, excess body weight, type 2 diabetes mellitus, etc. All patients received synthetic basic anti-inflammatory drugs (BАID) and glucocorticoids (GC). Thirtyseven (27.6%) patients were vaccinated with the Sputnik V vaccine. Their adverse events were represented by soreness at the injection site (n=6) and transient flu-like syndrome (n=6). Worsening of joint syndrome was reported by 1 patient. COVID-19 was suffered by 43 patients, none of whom were vaccinated. 7 patients were hospitalized, 3 patients died (all had severe comorbidities). In the post-infection period, weakness (64%), memory impairment (48.7%), reduced ability to work (38.5%) persisted for a long time (42 days on average), which was due to the long withdrawal of BАID.Conclusion. No exacerbations of the disease were noted in those vaccinated with Sputnik V. COVID-19 was detected in 43 (32.1%) patients, 7 of whom required hospitalization and 3 died. Exacerbation of RA in the post-infection period was associated with prolonged withdrawal of BАID.

The article discusses the common pathogenetic pathways of autoimmune skin diseases – psoriasis and vitiligo. Currently proposed treatments for vitiligo do not significantly reduce or completely restore skin pigmentation. The use of adalimumab for 6 years in a patient suffering from psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis (PsA), vitiligo and autoimmune thyroiditis made it possible to control the activity of psoriasis and PsA, and also contributed to the regression of depigmentation foci. The use of biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug therapy in this group of patients in order to achieve repigmentation may be promising.

Objective: to analyze the results of tofacitinib (TOFA) therapy in real clinical practice according to the All-Russian Arthritis Registry (OREL). Subjects and methods. The OREL Registry included 347 patients (286 (82%) women and 61 (18%) men) with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who initiated TOFA therapy. The male:female ratio was 1:4.7. The patients’ median age at onset of the disease was 42 years; its duration was 8 years. Most of the patients included in the registry had extended- (n=171 (52%)) or late- (n=148 (45%)) stage of RA. Results and discussion. Prior to initiation of TOFA therapy, RA activity according to DAS28 was high and moderate in 91 (64.5%) and 40 (28.4%) patients, respectively; the median DAS28 value was 5.5 [4.6; 6.2]; SDAI – 30.5 [21.4; 42.9], and CDAI – 28.2 [20.0; 37.1]. The use of TOFA was accompanied by significant decrease of disease activity. After 12 weeks, high RA activity was persistent in 32 (22.7%) patients; the number of patients with moderate activity increased to 77 (54.6%), that of those with low activity rose to 15 (10.6%); remission was observed in 17 (12.1%) patients. 216 (62.6%) and 76 (22%) patients received TOFA as first- and second-line therapy, respectively. TOFA was most frequently prescribed when tumor necrosis factor-á inhibitors (19.6%), rituximab (7.8%), tocilizumab (4.3%), and abatacept (5.2%) were insufficiently effective or poorly tolerated. Conclusion. The results of using TOFA in real clinical practice may suggest that the drug has high efficacy in patients with RA. TOFA can be used at a dose of 5 or 10 mg twice daily as both alone and in combination with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs. TOFA showed similar efficacy in patients who had earlier taken biological agents and in those who had not.

Objective – to evaluate efficacy and safety of “Carmolis” fluid and gel in patients with knee osteoarthritis, as well as the gel efficacy combined with ultraphonophoresis.Materials and methods. The study included 200 patients, who were divided into 2 groups depending on the way of application of “Carmolis” forms. Group 1 included 165 patients with knee osteoarthritis (the main group included 90 patients, the control group – 75 patients), who underwent complex local treatment with 2 “Carmolis” forms. Group 2 included 35 patients (20 people in the main group and 15 in the control one). The main group received phonophoresis with “Carmolis” gel, and the control group received “Carmolis” gel locally on the affected knee joint. Patients’ average age in group 1 was 62,7 ± 8,5 years, the average age in the control group was 61.4 ± 8.7 years, the disease duration was 10.1 ± 4.7 and 9.2 ± 6, 0 years, respectively. In group 2 the average age and disease duration were 60.1 ± 12.8 and 5.7 ± 5.4 years, respectively.At the initial stage 90 patients of the main group 1 were rubbed “Carmolis” fluid locally in the joint followed by massage. After the fluid absorbed completely, “Carmolis” gel was applied, followed by massage. In the comparison group (75 patients), standard therapy was combined only with “Carmolis” fluid applied on the II knee joint.Twenty patients of the main group 2 were treated with phonophoresis combined with “Carmolis” gel. Clinical efficacy was assessed by pain dynamics.Results. Treatment with two “Carmolis” local forms significantly decreased average on moving from 61.8 ± 14.2 to 30.7 ± 14.2 (р

The question about the peculiarities of the course of rheumatoid arthritis in different age periods was raised in the literature repeatedly and the answer depended on the period of development of rheumatology and was not unambiguous. The course of age-specific features of the initial stages of disease development has also been studied (although less frequently). At the same time, the issues of age-related features of as yet untreated early rheumatoid arthritis have not been previously presented in the literature studied by the authors. This article gives a brief overview of the problem and discusses the findings.The aim of the present study was the comparative study of the characteristics of untreated early rheumatoid arthritis with early (18–49 years) and late (50 years and older) onset.The material was represented by 292 patients with rheumatoid arthritis with disease duration from 1 to 12 months from the disease onset, entered into the All-Russian Register of Patients with Inflammatory Arthritis “OREL” in the period from January 01, 2012 to December 31, 2018 with the results of examination at the time of the first examination. All patients were naïve to treatment with basal (synthetic, biological or other targeted) drugs and systemic glucocorticoid therapy. In 141 patients, the disease started at a younger age, group 1 (18–49 years), and in 151, at an older age (50 years or older), group 2.Methods. Disease activity (according to DAS-28 index), radiological stage – (according to Steinbroker, modified), functional disorders – according to functional class, immunological characteristic and additional immunological characteristic (rheumatoid factor, cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies) and other parameters were estimated in accordance to requirements of current national rheumatoid arthritis classification. The results of the study indicate that the disease in older age is characterized by more pronounced inflammatory, destructive changes in relation to the joint apparatus and functional disorders than the onset of rheumatoid arthritis at a young age.

Hematidrosis is a rare disease. Isolated cases are described in the literature, which makes it impossible to study the etiology and pathogenesis of the disease. The most convincing are the assumptions about the role of emotional stress in the clinical manifestations of the disease. The author presents his own 2-year observation of a girl who periodically had bleeding from the nose and ear canal.

Objective: to assess the long-term safety and efficiency of tocilizumab (TCZ) therapy in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) of moderate and high activity, who have completed the basic WA19926 study, as well as the rate of sustained drug-free remission.Subjects and methods. A long-term open-label multicenter Phase III extension study (ML28124) was conducted using a group of 49 patients (36 (73.5%) women and 13 (26.5%) men; mean age 53.3±10.8 years) with early RA of moderate and high activity. All the patients received an intravenous infusion of TCZ 8 mg/kg every 4 weeks for 104 weeks (a total of 27 infusions). The safety assessment criteria were the rate and severity of all adverse events (AE), serious AE (SAE), and AE of particular interest; the rate of AE causing drug dosage changes or withdrawal from the study; the frequency of clinically significant laboratory abnormalities. The analysis of efficiency (secondary end points) included changes of DAS8, which was calculated using erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (DAS28-ESR) and SDAI, the of tender joint count (TJC) and swollen joint count (SJC); the number of patients who had achieved drug-free remission; and the time to a RA exacerbation in patients who had achieved non-drug remission.Results and discussion. The total rate of AE was found to be 69.4%; that of SAE was 10.2%; SAE were 6.9% of the the total number of AE; AE of particular interest were 17.2% of the total number of AE. More than one-third (35.6%) of the AE caused drug dose changes or therapy discontinuation or complete cessation. The laboratory clinically significant abnormalities included those in complete blood cell counts (blood alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, total and direct bilirubin, creatinine, and glucose). The evaluation efficiency analysis showed that the main disease activity measures (DAS28-ESR, SDAI, SJC, and TJC) decreased at 104-week follow-up versus at baseline. The rate of drug-free remission was 71.4%; that of recurrence was 40.0% (the median time to recurrence was 23 weeks). The findings suggest that the safety profile of TCZ is acceptable in the long-term treatment of early RA and correspond to earlier results.

The paper describes a rare case of thoracic spine involvement in a 28-year-old patient with gout that was manifested by acute neurologic symptoms (lower extremity paresis with pelvic organ dysfunction) and that required emergency surgery. Similar cases that are previously described, including the possible variants of the clinical manifestations, tophus localization, surgical treatment, risk factors for axial tophus formation, are separately discussed.

Musculoskeletal diseases (MSDs) are a topical medical, social, and economic problem. According to the 2015 data, MSDs in the structure of primary morbidity were 3.9% and those in the structure of mortality were 0.2% in the Russian Federation. Official mortality statistics is formed only by one (underlying) cause of death. The study of multiple causes of death will enable the understanding of its mechanisms, the necessity of making changes in the management tactics for patients and in the standards of medical care, as well as the possibility of correcting the mortality reduction plans. Objective: to investigate the reliability of statistics on MSD mortality and the ways of its reduction, by analyzing the underlying and multiple causes of death. Materials and methods. This investigation used a database on medical death certificates of the residents of the Tula Region in 2015. Mortality rates were calculated by conventional statistical methods. Death rates for the Russian Federation and the Tula Region were taken from the book «Medico-demographic indicators of the Russian Federation in 2015» by the Ministry of Health of Russia and C52 tables by the Federal State Statistics Service. The 2012–2014 European mortality databases were used for international comparisons. Results and discussion. The mortality rates were analyzed using the underlying and multiple causes of death. Expert evaluation showed that the 2015 mortality rates from MSDs were underestimated by approximately 11%. The MSD mortality rates in the Tula Region were 2.4 and 2.7 times higher than those in the entire Russian Federation and in Europe, respectively. Defects were found in drawing up medical death certificates. The reliability of mortality statistics was shown to be related to monitoring, physician training, and introduction of an automated system. Emphasis is laid on the correction of treatment tactics for patients with MSD.

Helicobacter pylori is the most common human infection. H. pylori is known to cause chronic gastritis and gastric and duodenal ulcers. However, the H. pylori-host interaction is not confined to the gastric mucosa, the mechanism responsible for the adaptation of this bacterium to the living conditions in the human body, can cause systemic immune imbalance, provoking various autoimmune reactions. The paper considers the investigations demonstrating the possible role of H. pylori as a trigger or aggravating factor in rheumatic diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Sjögren's syndrome and disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, and progressive systemic sclerosis. The relationship between H. pylori and autoimmune diseases is confirmed by the higher frequency of more aggressive strains of this microorganism in rheumatic diseases. There are also clinical trials showing the positive impact of H. pylori eradication on RA activity.

Tofacitinib (TOFA), a representative of a new class of targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (s-DMARD), is a promising drug for treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other immune inflammatory diseases.Objective: to evaluate the efficiency and safety of therapy with TOFA in combination with methotrexate (MTX) and other s-DMARDs in real clinical practice in patients with active RA and previous ineffective therapy.Patients and methods. A 6-month Russian multicenter study of function and quality of life enrolled 101 patients with resistant RA: 18 men and 83 women; mean age, 51.03±11.28 years; mean disease duration, 105.4±81.43 months; rheumatoid factor-positive individuals (89.1%); and anticyclic citrullinated peptide antibody-positive ones (74.7%). 93 (92,1%) of these patients completed a 24-week study. TOFA was used as both second-line drug (after failure of therapy with s-DMARD) (n=74) and as a third-line drug (after failure of therapy with s-DMARDs and biological agents (BAs) (n=74). The tools RAPID3, HAQ, and EQ-5D were used to determine disease outcomes from a patient's assessment.Results. All the three tools demonstrated significant positive changes at 3–6 months following therapy initiation. RAPID3 scores for the status of a patient achieving a low disease activity or remission coincided with the mean DAS28-ESR and SDAI scores in 60% and 68% of cases, respectively. The achievement rates of the minimally clinically significant improvement (ΔHAQ≥0.22) and functional remission (HAQ≤0.5) at 6 months of TOFA therapy were 79.6 and 30.1%, respectively. The mean change value in EQ-5D scores over 6 months was -0.162±0.21. There were no significant between the groups of patients who used TOFA as a second- or third-line agent in the majority of indicators, except EQ-5D scores at 6 months.Conclusions. The results of our multicenter study using considerable Russian material confirmed the pronounced positive effect of TOFA used as a second-line agent (after s-DMARD failure) and a third-line agent (after s-DMARD and BA failure) on patients' assessment of disease activity, functional ability in daily life, and quality of life.

The paper presents the materials of the Russian Arthritis Registry (OREL) that includes 3276 patients from 11 Russian Federation's largest research-and-practical centers situated in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Kazan, Tula, Yaroslavl, Tyumen. It discusses the main goals of setting up registries, compares the results of an analysis of the data available in the Russian Registry OREL and registries of European countries and the USA. The findings suggest that there is non-uniform information on clinical, laboratory, and instrumental parameters in the national registers of a number of European countries and the USA. According to its basic characteristics, the Russian Registry OREL compares favorably with a number of other registries in the completeness of data collection, which allows a general idea of rheumatoidarthritis (RA) patients in Russia. For further development of the OREL Registry, it is necessary to concentrate our attention on the following main areas: to improve the quality of filling out documents; to follow-up patients receiving different RA therapy regimens according to the guidelines of the Association of Rheumatologists of Russia for the treatment of RA; to conduct in-depth studies of comorbidity, primarily depressive disorders; to analyze adverse reactions that make RA therapy difficult; to actively use modules for patients' self-rating of their condition; to develop nursing care, etc.

Tofacitinib (TOFA), a member of a new class of targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), is a promising medication for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other immunoinflammatory diseases. The paper describes the Russian experi-ence with TOFA used to treat severe RA.Patients and methods. 101 RA patients (18 men and 83 women; mean age, 51.03±11.28 years; mean disease duration, 105.4±81.43 months) who were positive for rheumatoid factor (89.1%) and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies (74.7%) and resistant to therapy with synthetic DMARDs (sDMARDs) (80.2%) and biological agents (19.8%) were given TOFA at a dose of 5 mg twice daily, which could be doubled if necessary. TOFA was used alone (n=9) or in combination with methotrexate (MT) (n=75) or other sDMARDs (n=17). The achievement of low disease activity (LDA) and clinical remission at 3 and 6 months of treatment by DAS28-ESR SDAI, and CDAI scores, and the indices of safety and tolerability were assessed.Results. A total of 93 (92.1%) of the 101 patients completed a 24-week period of the investigation. 8 (7.9%) patients prematurely discontinued TOFA after an average of 2.75±0.71 months. At the end of the study, the patients achieved the primary endpoint (LDA including remission) in terms of DAS28-ESR ≤3.2 (34.7%), SDAI ≤11 (47.5%), and CDAI ≤10 (48.5%) and the secondary endpoints (clinical remission) in terms of DAS28-ESR ≤2.6 (17.8%), SDAI ≤3.3 (8.9%), and CDAI ≤2.8 (6.9%). When TOFA was combined with MT, the discontinuation rate for the former was significantly lower (2.7%) than when TOFA was used in combination with other sDMARDs (29.4%) or alone (11.1%; p

The literature virtually lacks the results of investigations aimed to study the clinical picture of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in the real practice of rheumatologists in Russia. At the same time, these investigations may give information on not only the epidemiological aspects of the disease, but also a variety of its clinical presentation, its social importance, allow evaluation of the efficiency of therapy, and plan a system of further health care costs.Subjects and methods. In early 2015, the cross-sectional multicenter non-interventional trial EPICA2 was conducted to refine the clinical picture of AS in the real practice of a rheumatologist. The trial involved 402 patients with AS from 10 centers of Russia. The patients were examined using the international standards accepted for this disease. Results and discussion. 180 out of the 402 patients were treated in hospital; the others were examined during outpatient visits. The patients' mean age was 40.8±11.5 years; there were 292 (72.6%) men; 82.6% were HLA-B27 positive. The average age of onset was 27.6 years; the interval between symptom onset and diagnosis was 85.2 months. The rheumatologists established the diagnosis in 87.3% of the cases. BASDAI and BASFI averaged 4.3±2.1 and 4.1±1.8, respectively. At the trial, there was peripheral arthritis in 33.1% of the patients, enthesitis in 37.1%, and dactylitis in 1.2%. Joint endoprosthesis was carried out in 4.7% of the patients. The most common comorbidities were hypertension (25.1%), gastric ulcer (9.7%), coronary heart disease (4.0%), and diabetes mellitus (3.0%).Conclusion. AS is diagnosed in real practice more than 7 years after its onset mainly by rheumatologists.The delay of the diagnosis is mostly associated with the fact that specialists of other medical specialties are unaware of the clinical presentation of the disease. The examined group of patients with AS shows a relatively high activity and obvious functional impairments, which is primarily related to the specific features of patient selection in this trial.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common rheumatic diseases. Knee OA is particularly frequently encountered among all forms of OA, the prevalence of knee OA being about 25% in the general population. Despite multiple guidelines for the management of knee OA, which have been prepared by the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR), the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), and the Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI), many problems of its treatment policy remain to be solved. The same holds true for not only the symptomatic and disease-modifying effects of chondroprotectors, but also topical therapy options.Objective: to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of Carmolis gel in patients with knee OA.Subjects and methods.The trial included 280 patients with knee OA (a study group consisted of 190 patents; a control group comprised 90 patients). The mean age was 58.3±9.3 years in the study group and 59±10.5 years in the control group. The disease duration was 10.3±5.5 and 10.1±4.1 years, respectively. Carmolis gel was applied to the region of the most painful knee joint up to 4–5 times daily, followed by massage of this skin area. The treatment cycle lasted for 2 weeks. No therapy was performed in the control patients. The clinical efficacy was determined by the changes in joint pains at rest or on movement and palpation, according to a visual analogue scale (VAS), WOMAC questionnaire, the synovitis intensity (assessed by ultrasonography), patient and physician global assessments of disease activity (Likert scale), and the possibility of reducing the daily dosage of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). The onset the therapeutic effect of the gel and the duration of its action were recorded.Results and discussion. The topical application of Carmolis gel caused a statistically significant reduction in joint pain at rest and on movement from 57.7±6.8 to 12±1.8 mm (р < 0.01) and from 52±5.3 to 17±2.7 mm, respectively (р

The paper presents the materials of the Russian Arthritis Registry (OREL) that includes 3276 patients from 11 Russian Federation's largest research-and-practical centers situated in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Kazan, Tula, Yaroslavl, Tyumen. It discusses the main goals of setting up registries, compares the results of an analysis of the data available in the Russian Registry OREL and registries of European countries and the USA. The findings suggest that there is non-uniform information on clinical, laboratory, and instrumental parameters in the national registers of a numberof European countries and the USA. According to its basic characteristics, the Russian Registry OREL compares favorably with a number of other registries in the completeness of data collection, which allows a general idea of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients in Russia. For further development of the OREL Registry, it is necessary to concentrate our attention on the following main areas: to improve the quality of filling out documents; to follow-up patients receiving different RA therapy regimens according to the guidelines of the Association of Rheumatologists of Russia for the treatment of RA; to conduct in-depth studies of comorbidity, primarily depressive disorders; to analyze adverse reactions that make RA therapy difficult; to actively use modules for patients' self-rating of their condition; to develop nursing care, etc.

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic systemic disease of the axial skeleton. Recently, there has been increased interest among practitioners and researchers in AS. Because of difficulties in conducting epidemiological surveys studying statistical data on its prevalence and patient mortality is of great importance. It permit introduction of necessary corrections into organization of medical care to patients on the basis of analysis of the situation in the region.Objective: to study the trend and validity of data on AS prevalence and patient mortality in the adult population of the Tula Region versus the Russian Federation.Subjects and methods. The investigators used the 2002–2010 statistical guidelines “Prevalence of diseases in adult populationof Russia” by the Ministry of Health of Russia; the 2006–2010 federal statistical inquiry forms No. 14 in the Tula Region and the Russian Federation; the European hospital database; the 2000–2011 mortality databases in the Tula Region, which had been obtained by the automated mortality registration systems, which contained 373,997 records and included all margins of “Medical Death Certificates”.Results and discussion. In the Russian Federation, overall prevalence of AS per 100,000 adult population increased from 27.6 in 2002 to 34.4 in 2010 (the increment was 24.6%) while in the Tula Region its trend was unstable in this period. Incidence of AS here decreased by 31.8% from 2002 to 2010; in Russia its increment was 51.6%. From 2000 to 2011 in the Tula Region AS was registered as one of the causes of death in 29 cases.Conclusion. To plan measures aimed at improving the quality of medical care to AS patients, it is necessary to expand a comprehensive study of AS prevalence as well as outpatient and inpatient mortality from AS

Diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever.

Osteoporosis (OP) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is 2–3 times more common than in the population; however, the data on the risk factors (RFs) of OP in this disease are ambiguous.Objective: to study RFs for OP in RA within the framework of the multicenter program “Osteoporosis in rheumatoid arthritis: Diagnosis, risk factors, fractures, treatment”.Subjects and methods. The trial enrolled 261 women (mean age 56.7±11.4 years) with RA; of them 151 (59%) patients were found to have OP (Group 1) and 107 (41%) were not (Group 2). All the patients underwent unified clinical, laboratory, and instrumental examination.Results. Comparison of the patients with and without OP showed that the women with OP were older (59.5±10.8 and 52.9±11.2 years, respectively; p < 0.01) had longer RA duration (14.5±9.2 and 11±8.0 years; p < 0.01), higher Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) functional disability index scores (1.7±0.8 and 1.4±0.9; p < 0.01), higher C-reactive protein (CRP) levels (13.5 [7; 31] and 11 [2,7; 26] mg/l; p < 0.01); a larger number of erosions (49 [11; 90] and 8 [1;36]; p < 0.01), and a more marked joint space narrowing (112 [90; 131] and 77 [51; 102]; p < 0.01). The women with OP received longer (72 [26.5; 120] and 48 [11; 79.5] months; p < 0.01) and more frequently glucocorticoids (GC) orally (65.6 and 38.3%; p < 0.01) and as pulse therapy (41.2 and 20.4%; p < 0.01), had a larger cumulative dose (14.4 [5.4; 24.2] and 7.2 [1.5; 14.4] g; p < 0.01) and a larger GC dose at their examination (6.0 [4.0; 8,0] and 5.0 [4.0; 6.0]mg/day, respectively; p = 0.05).Conclusion. The presence of OP in RA correlates with age, RA duration, articular dysfunction, CRP levels, X-ray change magnitude, hormone therapy duration, and a cumulative GC dose.

In 2013, Russia registered officially the indications for the use of monoclonal antibodies to B-lymphocytes (rituximab, RTM) in systemic vasculitides associated with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA-SV). This communication presents the preliminary results of the Russian register of the RTM application in autoimmune diseases (NORMA) that has included 50 patients with ANCA-SV treated in 14 cities of the Russian Federation. Twenty-five of 50 (50%) patients received repeated courses of RTM. RTM has demonstrated a high efficacy and a good profile of treatment safety in patients with ANCA-SV in real-life national clinical practice. Among 25 patients who had been followed up for over 12 months, the remission was achieved in 92% of cases, a decrease in the ANCA-SV activity was observed in 8%. The efficacy of RTM increased when performing repeated courses, while it has been noted that the positive results can be obtained by prescribing a repeated course of RTM at a reduced dose (500–1000 mg). Prescription of the repeated courses was primarily required in patients with granulomatosis and polyangiitis affecting the lungs. Care should be taken when combining RTM treatment with cytostatics (primarily with cyclophosphamide) because of the risk of secondary immunodeficiency and infectious adverse events (AE), which have been the most frequent serious AE (12%) in patients with ANCA-SV.