ACR Journals On Air American College of Rheumatology

Caring for our patients means reducing symptoms and occurrences of flare-ups. However, caring for their whole self means a watchful eye on how chronic disease symptoms impact their daily life and mental health. Discovering patterns between depression and anxiety and such chronic diseases, like ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, was the focus of Dr. Alyssa Howren’s latest study. Today, we take a look at this study, titled: “What Came First?” Population-Based Evaluation of Health Care Encounters for Depression and Anxiety Before and After Inflammatory Arthritis Diagnosis: Disentangling the Relationship Between Mental Health and Arthritis and try to disentangle the web of disease-related depression and anxiety 

When disease strikes, time becomes a critical resource our patients cannot afford to waste. For those with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), an inordinate amount of time often goes by before a proper diagnosis is made, resulting in delays for crucial treatments to be rendered. The reasons for this delay in diagnosis, particularly among those with axSpA are diverse, complicated and not well-understood. Our guest, Dr. Gregory McDermott, attempted to better understand this diagnostic delay with his study: Factors Associated With Diagnostic Delay in Axial Spondyloarthritis: Impact of Clinical Factors and Social Vulnerability  in hopes that we may begin answering these challenges with solutions.  

Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) is a painful and debilitating disease that our patients suffer from. However, a newly published study has concluded that there are some self-management interventions patients can engage with that have shown to improve fatigue, particularly for those newly diagnosed with SSc. Today, we review the procedures, interventions, results and conclusions of this study, titled: Effects of a Resilience-Building Energy Management Program on Fatigue and Other Symptoms in Systemic Sclerosis: A Randomized Controlled Trial, along with two of its authors, Dr. Susan L Murphy and Ms. Mary Alore, and how your patients can benefit from its lessons. 

As the need and demand for quality care increases, time in clinic needs to become more efficient. Working smarter, not harder, is a daily challenge for all in our field. With mobile technology streamlining so much and improvements in patient reported outcome (PRO) collection among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) needed, it had Dr. Daniel Solomon asking “...is there an app for that?”. Today, we review the study A Mobile Health Application Integrated in the Electronic Health Record for Rheumatoid Arthritis Patient–Reported Outcomes: A Controlled Interrupted Time-Series Analysis of Impact on Visit Efficiency , recently published in Arthritis & Rheumatology. Our guest, Dr. Daniel Solomon, is our guest and the study’s first author. 

Recent research indicates that those who suffer from AxSpA may have some hope in protecting against events of Uveitis! Dr. Katie Bechman, first author Incidence of Uveitis in Patients With Axial Spondylarthritis Treated With Biologics or Targeted Synthetics: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis, explains her team’s research findings and how they came to this exciting conclusion! 

“If I have seen further, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants” Sir Isaac Newton famously stated in a letter to polymath scientist, Robert Hooke back in 1675. Today, Dr. Mary Crow, MD, aides Arthritis & Rheumatology launch a series on immunology, for rheumatologists. She is the co-author of the article Standing on Shoulders: Interferon Research, from Viral Interference to Lupus Pathogenesis and Treatment. In this episode, we stand with Dr. Crow to look back at the achievements made by brilliant minds in interferon research and analyze the unbroken line their advancements in rheumatology have led to today’s discoveries, with more to com