ACR Journals On Air

It has only been three years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and we’re only just now beginning to investigate the impact it has had on our collective societies. The full impact will likely not be known for years to come, if ever. As those studies are beginning, our next guests wanted to evaluate the pandemic’s impact in their spheres of interest. First author, Dr. Kristie Kuhn, MD, PhD along with Dr. Liana Fraenkel, MD, MPH and team asked the question: “What is the impact of COVID on our early career investigators and trainees and what can be done about it?”. The results of their study are found in “Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Early Career Investigators in Rheumatology: Recommendations to Address Challenges to Early Research Careers” and were recently published in “Arthritis Care & Research”  

This week, we take a look at the practical management of pain and the advancement of science regarding it, with our guest Dr. Dan Clauw. Co-author of the paper: “Identifying and Managing Nociplastic Pain in Individuals With Rheumatic Diseases: A Narrative Review”, Dr. Clauw joins us today to discuss the work to introduce the three types of pain classified by “The International Association for the Study of Pain” and the mechanisms that underlie pain, as it relates to the field of rheumatology.  

Our guest this week is Dr. April Barnado, the first author of a study which analyzed a cohort of 3.2 million patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), during pregnancy, from 1989 to 2020. Her team’s work, titled “Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Delivery Outcomes Are Unchanged Across Three Decades“ was published in “ACR Open Rheumatology”, and found some amazing trends regarding outcomes of the pregnancies and even in medication use. The study, its methods, conclusions and Dr. Barnado’s advice on breaking into academic research, is the focus of our show.  

Our guest this week is Dr. Tony Merriman, whose latest work: “Association of Gout Polygenic Risk Score With Age at Disease Onset and Tophaceous Disease in European and Polynesian Men With Gout“, attempted to determine whether a gout polygenic risk score (PRS) is associated with age at gout onset and tophaceous disease in European, East Polynesian, and West Polynesian men and women with gout. However, what this study found regarding the predictability of these associations, specifically how it affects men and women differently, may have been something no one could have predicted. 

Dr. Isabelle Amigues, author of a manuscript on myocardial inflammation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, discusses the link between inflammation and heart health in these patients. The podcast also includes reflections on a personal cancer diagnosis and the incorporation of holistic practices in rheumatology.

Dr. Alexandru-Emil Matei, a researcher in immunology, discusses his study on immune cell activation in scleroderma using biophysical phenotyping. They explore Young's Modulus and the RTFDC technique for analyzing cell mechanics. They also analyze PBMCs from patients with different diseases and discuss the correlation between biophysical properties of cells and disease activity scores. The podcast concludes with a conversation on balancing clinical practice and research in biomedical research.

Caring for older adults who suffer from rheumatic disease comes with it the need to manage multimorbidity, polypharmacy, and geriatric syndromes. Often, shifting priorities for those suffering with rheumatic musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs) is needed, sometimes leading to a prescribing cascade. The practice of ‘deprescribing’, an approach to optimize medication use to deliver a more ‘goal-concordant’ type of care was the focus of Dr. Una Makris and Dr. Jiha Lee’s latest research: “Optimizing Medication Use in Older Adults With Rheumatic Musculoskeletal Diseases: Deprescribing as an Approach When Less May Be More“ When caring for older adults with RMDs, it very well may be, that “Less is More”. 

In a study recently published in “ACR Open Rheumatology” titled: “Geographic Variation in Disease Burden and Mismatch in Care of Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis in the United States“, first author Dr. Sharon Dowell set out to understand some of the factors associated with regional variation of rheumatoid arthritis in the United States. Sharon Dowell, MD presents her study’s findings and conclusions. ACR’s RISE Team member, Tracy Johansson, MS, joins us as well to discuss how RISE attempts to close these gaps. Together, both of our guests help us to understand how geographic location contributes to a disproportionate level of care for those with RA and what we can do about it. 

Pulmonary hypertension (PH), being a serious complication of systemic sclerosis (SSc), develops late in the course of SSc and carries with it a poor prognosis. With the median survival of about 3 years, new evidence suggests that early diagnosis and treatment can significantly improve survival. Joining us this week is Christopher P Denton PhD FRCP, senior author of “Dynamic Prediction of Pulmonary Hypertension in Systemic Sclerosis Using Landmark Analysis,” published in Arthritis and Rheumatology. Dr. Denton’s latest study explores “the prediction of short-term risk for PH using serial pulmonary function tests (PFTs)” 

Dr. Joshua Baker, first author of a paper recently published in “Arthritis & Rheumatology”, “Associations Between Low Serum Urate, Body Composition, and Mortality“, is our guest today. Dr. Baker, recognizing the controversy in whether low serum urate or uric acid (UA) level contribute to adverse outcomes, set out to evaluate the relation between low serum UA levels and sarcopenia, to assess whether sarcopenia confounds associations between these low levels and mortality.