Sex-specific differences and how to handle them in early psoriatic arthritis.

OBJECTIVES: The prevalence of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is the same in men and women; however, the latter experience a higher burden of disease and are affected more frequently by polyarthritis. Here, we performed an early PsA cohort analysis to assess sex-related differences in demographics, disease characteristics, and evolution over 1 year including applied treatment strategies. METHODS: Our study is embedded in the Dutch south-west Early Psoriatic Arthritis cohoRt. We described patient characteristics and treatment decisions. For the comparison across sexes and baseline and 1 year follow-up, appropriate tests depending on the distribution were used. RESULTS: Two hundred seventy-three men and 294 women with no significant differences in age and ethnicity were included. Women reported significantly longer duration of symptoms before diagnosis and significantly higher tender joint count, a higher disease activity, higher levels of pain, and lower functional capacity. Although minimal disease activity (MDA) rates increased over time for both sexes, MDA remained significantly more prevalent among men at 1 year (58.1% vs 35.7%, p < 0.00). Initially, treatment strategies were similar in both sexes with methotrexate being the most frequently used drug during the first year. Women received methotrexate for a shorter period [196 (93-364) vs 306 (157-365), p < 0.00] and therefore received a lower cumulative dose compared to men. Retention time was shorter for all DMARDs, and women had a delayed start on b-DMARDs. CONCLUSION: After 1 year of standard-of-care treatment, women did not surpass their baseline disadvantages. Despite the overall improvement, they still presented higher disease activity, higher levels of pain, and lower functional capacity score than men. The nature of these findings may advocate a need for sex specific adjustment of treatment strategies and evaluation in early PsA patients.

Lessons learned from clinical phenotypes in early psoriatic arthritis: the real-world Dutch south west Early Psoriatic ARthritis study.

Objective: This paper describes the baseline demographics, clinical characteristics, and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) according to clinical phenotype of patients with early psoriatic arthritis (PsA) for the purpose of creating a decision support system for daily clinical practice.Method: Patients with newly diagnosed PsA were included in the Dutch south west Early Psoriatic ARthritis (DEPAR) study. No classification criteria were applied, to ensure collection of real-world data on demographics, medication, clinical characteristics, and PROs. An IT infrastructure facilitated data collection.Results: We described 527 patients, categorized according to the clinical phenotype stated by the rheumatologist at the time of diagnosis, namely monoarthritis (15%), oligoarthritis (40%), polyarthritis (23%), enthesitis (10%), axial disease (2%), and dactylitis (10%). Overall psoriasis severity was mild and 83 patients (16%) had no psoriasis. Short-term sick leave (> 1 day per 4 weeks) was 17% and long-term sick leave (> 4 weeks) was 4%. The group with phenotype enthesitis reported the longest duration of complaints, had the highest fatigue scores, and contained the highest percentage of patients with a Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) anxiety score ≥ 8 and depression score ≥ 8.Conclusion: PsA patients presenting at outpatient clinics in the Netherlands had a mild degree of psoriasis, with impairment of quality of life and work productivity. Most patients presented with phenotype oligoarthritis. Those presenting with phenotype enthesitis more often reported scores suggestive of an anxiety or depression disorder and fatigue. It is important for attending rheumatologists to be aware of these differences when assessing patients with PsA.

Comprehensive approach to study complement C4 in systemic lupus erythematosus: Gene polymorphisms, protein levels and functional activity.

Genetic variation of the genes encoding complement component C4 is strongly associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a chronic multi-organ auto-immune disease. This study examined C4 and its isotypes on a genetic, protein, and functional level in 140 SLE patients and 104 healthy controls. Gene copy number (GCN) variation, silencing CT-insertion, and the retroviral HERV-K(C4) insertion) were analyzed with multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification. Increased susceptibility to SLE was found for low GCN (≪2) of C4A. Serositis was the only clinical manifestation associated with low C4A GCN. One additional novel silencing mutation in the C4A gene was found by Sanger sequencing. This mutation causes a premature stop codon in exon 11. Protein concentrations of C4 isoforms C4A and C4B were determined with ELISA and were significantly lower in SLE patients compared to healthy controls. To study C4 isotypes on a functional level, a new C4 assay was developed, which distinguishes C4A from C4B by its binding capacity to amino or hydroxyl groups, respectively. This assay showed high correlation with ELISA and detected crossing over of Rodgers and Chido antigens in 3.2% (8/244) of individuals. The binding capacity of available C4 to its substrates was unaffected in SLE. Our study provides, for the first time, a complete overview of C4 in SLE from genetic variation to binding capacity using a novel test. As this test detects crossing over of Rodgers and Chido antigens, it will allow for more accurate measurement of C4 in future studies.

[A man with a curved deformity of the hand]. / Een man met een kromme hand.

A 63-year-old male was seen at the rheumatology outpatient clinic because of a curved deformity of his left hand, with fixed flexion of the MCP joints and hyperextension of the PIP and DIP joints. This so-called striatal hand, a feature of Parkinson's disease, can easily be confused with rheumatoid arthritis or Dupuytren's contracture.

Depression in systemic lupus erythematosus, dependent on or independent of severity of disease.

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the prevalence of depression in subjects with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in relation to the general population and to unravel the relation between depression and SLE disease characteristics. METHODS: One hundred and two subjects with SLE (mean age 44.4 years) were studied using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) score to estimate the prevalence of depression. The BDI scores in subjects with SLE were compared with BDI scores from a pan-European population based study (Outcome in Depression International Network (ODIN) study, n = 7934), i.e. the general population. RESULTS: The mean BDI score was higher in SLE subjects (10.1 points) compared with the BDI scores derived from the general population (10.1 versus 5.6 points, respectively, p < 0.001). This corresponds to a prevalence of depression of 16.6% and 6.7%, respectively. There was no association between disease activity or organ damage and BDI scores in subjects with SLE (p > 0.1). Only 7% of SLE subjects with high BDI scores used antidepressants. CONCLUSION: The mean BDI score and prevalence of depression are significantly higher in SLE subjects compared with the general population. No association was found between SLE disease characteristics and BDI scores. The number of depressed SLE subjects treated with antidepressants is low, suggesting inadequate recognition and treatment of depression in SLE.

Six-year follow-up study of bone mineral density in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

UNLABELLED: Long-term bone mineral density (BMD) changes and the associated factors in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients were assessed. Despite the remarkably low overall bone loss, significant spine bone loss was associated with the use of glucocorticoids, use of antimalarials, and lower 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels, stressing the importance of prevention of osteoporosis and vitamin D deficiency in SLE patients. INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study is to assess the BMD changes in patients with SLE and to identify the associated factors. METHODS: Demographic and clinical data of 126 SLE patients were collected, and BMD measurements of the lumbar spine and the total hip were performed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at baseline and follow-up. Statistical analyses were performed using independent Mann-Whitney U tests and linear regression analyses. RESULTS: At baseline, 39.7 % of the patients (90 % female, mean age 39 ± 12.2 years) had osteopenia, and 6.3 % had osteoporosis. The median follow-up duration was 6.7 years (range 1.9-9.3 years). Mean changes in BMD at the lumbar spine (-0.08 %/year) and the hip (-0.20 %/year) were not significant. During follow-up, 70 % of the patients used glucocorticoids. The mean ± SD daily glucocorticoid dose was 5.0 ± 5.0 mg. In multiple regression analysis, BMD loss at the spine was significantly associated with higher daily glucocorticoid dose and lower baseline 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels. BMD loss at the hip was associated with lower 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels at baseline, reduction of body mass index, and baseline use of antimalarials. CONCLUSIONS: In this 6-year follow-up study, bone loss was remarkably low. A dose-dependent relationship between glucocorticoid use and spinal bone loss was found. In addition, the use of antimalarials and lower 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels at baseline were associated with BMD loss. These findings underline the importance of prevention and treatment of vitamin D deficiency and osteoporosis in SLE, especially in patients using glucocorticoids or antimalarials.

Venous and arterial thromboembolic events in adalimumab-treated patients with antiadalimumab antibodies: a case series and cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: We observed 3 patients who developed severe venous and arterial thromboembolic events during treatment with adalimumab, 2 of whom had rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 1 of whom had psoriatic arthritis. Antiadalimumab antibodies were detected in all 3 patients. We undertook this study to determine whether the development of antiadalimumab antibodies was associated with thromboembolic events during adalimumab treatment. METHODS: A retrospective search (with blinding with regard to antiadalimumab antibody status) for thromboembolic events was performed in a prospective cohort of 272 consecutively included adalimumab-treated RA patients. Incidence rates were calculated and hazard ratios (HRs) were estimated using Cox regression. None of the index patients were part of the cohort. RESULTS: Antiadalimumab antibodies were detected in 76 of 272 patients (28%). Eight thromboembolic events were found, 4 of which had occurred in patients with antiadalimumab antibodies. The incidence rate was 26.9/1,000 person-years for patients with antiadalimumab antibodies and 8.4/1,000 person-years for patients without those antibodies (HR 3.8 [95% confidence interval 0.9-15.3], P = 0.064). After adjustment for duration of followup, age, body mass index, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and prior thromboembolic events, the HR was 7.6 (95% confidence interval 1.3-45.1) (P = 0.025). CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that the occurrence of venous and arterial thromboembolic events during adalimumab treatment is higher in patients with antiadalimumab antibodies than in those without antiadalimumab antibodies. Patient numbers were relatively small; therefore, validation in other cohorts is mandatory.

Vibrio cholerae non-O1 non-O139 infection in an immunocompromised patient returning from Spain, July 2009.

We describe a severe gastroenteritis with non-O1, non-O139 Vibrio cholerae in an immunocompromised patient returning from a holiday in Spain in July 2009. Predisposing factors and possible cholera enterotoxin production could explain the unusually grave symptomatology. Patient recovered after doxycyclin treatment.