Annals Of The Rheumatic Diseases Research Articles

Global Research on Osteoarthritis During 1994-2023: A Scientometric Assessment of Publications and Citations.

This study presents a global research scenario in the broad domain of osteoarthritis (OA) research, using quantitative and qualitative publication and citation indicators. The study is based on 45,368 global publications, sourced from the Scopus bibliographical database, covering three decades (1994-2023). We studied the performance of the top 12 developed and top 12 developing countries. The key countries, organizations and authors at national and international levels were identified. The broad subject areas and key journals contributing to global OA research were delineated, besides identifying the broad characteristics of highly cited papers in the field. The United States and China were the most productive countries, while the Netherlands and Canada made the largest citation impact. Harvard Medical School and the University of Sydney made the most contribution, while Boston University and Pfizer Inc., USA registered the highest citation impact. Hunter DJ and Guermazi A were the most productive authors, while Lohmander LS, and Hochberg MC registered the highest citation impact. Osteoarthritis and Cartilage (n = 4879) and Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (n = 786) published the maximum papers, while Arthritis and Rheumatism and Nature Reviews Rheumatology registered the largest citation impact. The highly cited papers with 100 or more citations constituted 6.25% of the total publications. There has been a systematic growth of publications on OA. The research on OA was mainly done in developed countries, with the maximum publications coming from the United States of America, China and Canada. The most impactful publications on OA were from the Netherlands, Canada and the United States of America. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43465-024-01111-9.

Global trends and research status in ankylosing spondylitis clinical trials: a bibliometric analysis of the last 20 years.

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a rheumatic and autoimmune disease associated with a chronic inflammatory response, mainly characterized by pain, stiffness, or limited mobility of the spine and sacroiliac joints. Severe symptoms can lead to joint deformity, destruction, and even lifelong disability, causing a serious burden on families and society as a whole. A large number of clinical studies have been published on AS over the past 20 years. This study aimed to summarize the current research status and global trends relating to AS clinical trials through a bibliometric analysis. The Web of Science Core Collection database was searched for publications related to AS clinical trials published between January 2003 and June 2023. Bibliometric analysis and web visualization were performed using CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and a bibliometric online analysis platform (https://bibliometric.com), which included the number of publications, citations, countries, institutions, journals, authors, references, and keywords. 1,212 articles published in 201 journals from 65 countries were included in this study. The number of publications related to AS clinical trials is increasing annually. The United States and the Free University of Berlin, the countries and institutions, respectively, that have published the most articles on AS, have made outstanding contributions to this field. The author with the most published papers and co-citations over the period covered by the study was Desiree Van Der Heijde. The journal with the most published and cited articles was Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. The keywords: "double-blind," "rheumatoid arthritis," "efficacy," "placebo-controlled trial," "infliximab," "etanercept," "psoriatic arthritis" and "therapy" represent the current research hotspots regarding AS. This is the first study to perform a bibliometric analysis and visualization of AS clinical trial publications, providing a reliable research focus and direction for clinicians. Future studies in the field of AS clinical trials should focus on placebo-controlled trials of targeted therapeutic drugs.

Hypercoagulability in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Bibliometric Analysis and Retrospective Data Mining Study.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease characterized by chronic systemic inflammation, leading to joint deformities and functional loss. RA progression is accompanied by abnormalities in the coagulation-fibrinolysis system, clinically manifested as a hypercoagulable state. However, there are currently no bibliometrics or visualization analysis in this field. The present study aims to reveal the knowledge structure, research status, and research trends related to hypercoagulability in RA through bibliometric analysis and to evaluate the utility of inflammatory and coagulation markers in RA disease activity through retrospective data mining. English articles and reviews on RA hypercoagulability published from 2010 to 2023 were extracted from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database on March 1, 2023. VOSviewer and CiteSpace software were used for knowledge mapping analysis of the included papers in terms of countries/regions, institutions, journals, authors, keywords, research hotspots, and frontiers. A retrospective analysis was conducted on the general information on RA patients. The demographic and clinical indicators of all participants were collected to determine the correlation of inflammatory and coagulation markers with the Chinese patient-reported activity index for rheumatoid arthritis (CPRI-RA). A total of 957 papers were retrieved. The United States was the most productive country in this field and had the highest h-index, and the most prolific institution was the Karolinska Institute. The Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases was the journal with the most publications, and KLARESKOG L. was the most productive author. From keyword analysis, it could be seen that "inflammation", "activation", "disease-activity", and "risk" had long been the focuses of RA hypercoagulability research. "Criteria", "validation", "coagulation", "target", and "anemia" were the latest popular keywords in the past 5 years. Retrospective data mining revealed that the levels of inflammation (RF, ESR, and CRP) and coagulation (PLT and DD) were significantly increased in RA patients. FBG, CRP, and ESR were significantly correlated with CPRI-RA. Additionally, ESR, CRP, and FBG were identified as independent risk factors for CPRI-RA. The mechanism and application of hypercoagulability in RA have been research hotspots in recent years. Inflammation and coagulation markers are independent risk factors for CPRI-RA.

Bibliometric Analysis of Publications in Clinical Trials on Knee Osteoarthritis Between 2001 and 2022.

Clinical treatment of knee osteoarthritis has gained great interest, and numerous clinical studies have been reported. Few studies have described the detailed characterizations of clinical trials on knee osteoarthritis. This study is to identify, visualize, and characterize the clinical trials in knee osteoarthritis research. Articles published in recent two decades were extracted from the Web of Science core collection database using a query based on MeSH terms and topics of knee osteoarthritis and clinical trial. Basic characteristics of publications were analyzed based on the publication year, authors, institutions, counties, and keywords covered in the article. CiteSpace and VOS viewer were used for data visualization. The data were retrieved on May 28, 2022. A total of 1972 trials on knee osteoarthritis were identified. The number of publications has experienced rapid growth in the past two decades. America, England, and China had strong contributions in publication. Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases and American Journal of Sports Medicine were highly cited and bellwether journals. Clustering mapping of the collaborative network, co-citation, and co-occurrence analyses showed that the research hotspots are mainly focused on disease-modifying medications, intra-articular injections, physical therapy for symptom control, lifestyle intervention, Chinese medicine treatment, and knee replacement. Clinical treatments of knee OA are evolving. Pharmacologic therapy, intra-articular therapy, nonpharmacologic therapy including exercise or diet, self-management programs, Chinese medicine treatment, and knee replacement were highly represented in clinical trials of knee OA. Adjustment of combination therapy may be the next study focus in the future.

Research hotspots and trends of microRNAs in intervertebral disc degeneration: a comprehensive bibliometric analysis

BackgroundMicroRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in various pathological processes, such as proliferation, growth, and apoptosis, of intervertebral disc (IVD) cells and play an important role in the development of intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). Although some studies have reported the role of miRNAs in IDD, scientific econometric analysis in this field is not available.ObjectivesWe designed this study to describe the current research trends and potential mechanisms associated with the role of miRNAs in IDD and to provide new ideas for future research in this field.MethodsWe conducted a bibliometric analysis of the publications on the role of miRNAs in IDD included in the Web of Science core collection database to elucidate the current research trends in this field. The potential mechanisms were constructed using the Arrowsmith project.ResultsWe found that the number of miRNAs and IDD-related publications increased over the years. China was the most important contributor to research in this field. The top three institutions in terms of number of articles published were Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Xi’an Jiao Tong University. Shanghai Jiao Tong University had the highest number of citations. Experimental and thermal medicine had the maximum number of documents, and Cell promotion had the most citations. The journal with the most mean times cited per study was Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. The author Wang K had the highest number of publications, and Wang HQ had the highest number of citations. These two authors made important contributions to the research in this field. The keyword analysis showed that recent studies have focused on miRNAs regulating nucleus pulposus cell apoptosis and proliferation. Moreover, we revealed the potential mechanisms of miRNAs associated with IDD, including miRNAs regulating the extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation, mediating cartilage endplate (CEP) degeneration, and participating in inflammatory responses.ConclusionWe demonstrated the knowledge map of miRNAs and IDD-related research through bibliometric analysis and elucidated the current research status and hotspots in this field. The mechanisms by which miRNAs regulate the apoptosis and proliferation of degenerated IVDs, promote ECM degradation, mediate CEP degeneration, and participate in inflammatory responses should be explored in further studies.

Fears and hopes of patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic across Europe. Results from the REUMAVID study (phase 1 and phase 2).

Fears and hopes of patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic across Europe. Results from the REUMAVID study (phase 1 and phase 2).

Effects of intestinal microbes on rheumatic diseases: A bibliometric analysis.

Rheumatic diseases (RD) are a group of multi-system inflammatory autoimmune diseases whose causes are still under study. In the past few decades, researchers have found traces of the association between rheumatic diseases and intestinal microbiota, which can partially explain the pathogenesis of rheumatic diseases. We aimed to describe the research trend and main divisions on how gut flora interreacts with rheumatic diseases, and discussed about the possible clinical applications. We analyzed bibliometric data from the Web of Science core collection (dated 15th May 2022). Biblioshiny R language software packages (bibliometrix) were used to obtain the annual publication and citations, core sources according to Bradford's law, and country collaboration map. We designed and verified the keyword co-occurrence network and strategic diagram with the help of VOSviewer and CiteSpace, subdivided the research topic into several themes and identified research dimensions. The tables of most local cited documents and core sources were processed manually. Furthermore, the Altmetric Attention Score and the annual Altmetric Top 100 were applied to analyze the annual publication and citation. From a total of 541 documents, we found that the overall trend of annual publication and citation is increasing. The major research method is to compare the intestinal microbial composition of patients with certain rheumatic disease and that of the control group to determine microbial alterations related to the disease's occurrence and development. According to Bradford's law, the core sources are Arthritis and Rheumatology, Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Current Opinion in Rheumatology, Nutrients, Rheumatology, and Journal of Rheumatology. Since 1976, 101 countries or regions have participated in studies of rheumatology and intestinal microbes. The United States ranks at the top and has the broadest academic association with other countries. Five themes were identified, including the pivotal role of inflammation caused by intestinal bacteria in the rheumatic pathogenesis, the close relationship between rheumatic diseases and inflammatory bowel disease, immunoregulation mechanism as a mediator of the interaction between rheumatic diseases and gut flora, dysbiosis and decreased diversity in intestine of patients with rheumatic diseases, and the influence of oral flora on rheumatic diseases. Additionally, four research dimensions were identified, including pathology, treatment, disease, and experiments. Studies on rheumatic diseases and the intestinal microbiota are growing. Attention should be paid to the mechanism of their interaction, such as the microbe-immune-RD crosstalk. Hopefully, the research achievements can be applied to diseases' prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, and our work can contribute to the readers' future research.

In-depth bibliometric analysis and current scientific mapping research in the context of rheumatoid arthritis pharmacotherapy

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic multifactorial disorder of autoimmune etiology with a complex pathophysiological mechanism that is not yet fully elucidated. RA pharmacotherapy includes active molecules of chemical or biological nature that offer symptomatic relief and a slowing of progression, but still in a context of incurability. Therefore, the development of continuous research and multidisciplinary collaboration is essential. Although the management of RA is a topic of significant scientific relevance, existing bibliometric analyses are insufficient to assess this vast field. Consequently, the present study examines numerous manuscripts indexed in the Web of Science database using the VOSviewer software to provide through statistical interpretation of the data a comprehensive description of RA pharmacotherapy in terms of scientific impact, current state of research, number and frequency of citations, most prolific journals, authors, and countries, along with their relationships and other useful data for the literature search/publication process. Furthermore, the use of bubble maps of term occurrence has applicability in identifying current research trends in the field of RA pharmacotherapy as well as their evolution over the years. The leader in this field in terms of published papers is the United States, and the most prolific journal is Annals of the rheumatic diseases. The global management of RA, which is characterized by extensiveness and depth due to many variables, suggests the need for a conceptual framework based on pharmacotherapy coupled with comprehensive bibliometric studies, and the results may be useful for researchers in setting specific objectives that contribute to improving RA outcomes.

Bibliometric Analysis of the Scientific Literature on Rheumatoid Arthritis-Associated Interstitial Lung Disease.

Background In recent years, the number of studies on rheumatoid arthritis-related interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD) has been increasing, which has led to many publications on this topic. Our purpose is to identify research trends in RA-ILD and analyze the most-cited RA-ILD-related high-quality scientific publications. Methods All publications on RA-ILD in the Core Collection database of Web of Science were searched. The publication year, country, institution, total citations, and journal were extracted and analyzed. We used VOSviewer software or an online bibliometric analysis platform for cooccurrence analysis of the keywords, institutions, and countries involved. The 100 most frequently cited RA-ILD publications were analyzed. Results In total, 596 publications related to RA-ILD were obtained. Over time, the frequency of RA-ILD publications has increased. Globally, the United States provides the most publications on RA-ILD (n = 195). The institution with the highest publication output was the Mayo Clinic (n = 43). The journal “Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases” published most with 93 articles and received 338 citations. A clinical description was the most common research topic in RA-ILD-related publications. Conclusions In recent years, there has been an increasing number of studies on RA-ILD, and related publications have increased rapidly. This study is the first bibliometric study of RA-ILD-related publications. It can be used as a guide for clinicians and can help researchers choose research directions of interest in this field.

COVID-19 from a rheumatology perspective: bibliometric and altmetric analysis.

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak turned out the greatest pandemic for decades. It challenged enormously the global health system, forcing it to adjust to the new realities. We aimed to analyze articles covering COVID-19 papers in the rheumatological field and outline emerging topics raising within this frame. We applied the bibliometric database Scopus for our literature search and conducted it on the 5th of June using the following keywords: “rheumatic” OR “rheumatology” OR “rheumatoid arthritis” OR “systemic lupus erythematosus” OR “myositis” OR “systemic sclerosis” OR “vasculitis” OR “arthritis” OR “ankylosing spondylitis” AND “COVID-19”. We analyzed all selected articles according to various aspects: type of document, authorship, journal, citations score, rheumatology field, country of origin, language, and keywords. With the help of the software tool VOSviewer version 1.6.15, we have built the visualizing network of authors and keywords co-occurrence. The measurement of the social impact of articles was made using Altmetric data. This study included 1430 retrieved articles with open access mostly. The top five journals in this field were Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (n = 65), Rheumatology International (n = 51), Clinical Rheumatology (n = 50), Lancet Rheumatology (n = 50), and Frontiers In Immunology (n = 33). Most studies originate from countries with a high incidence of COVID-19 among the general population (the USA—387; Italy—268; UK—184; France—114; Germany—110; India—98 and Spain—96, China—94, Canada—73 Turkey—66). Original Articles (42.1%) were the most common articles’ type, following by Letters (24.4%), Reviews (21.7%), Notes (6%), Editorials (4.8%), Erratum (1%). According to the citations scores, articles dedicated to the clinical course of COVID-19 in patients with rheumatic diseases were of the highest importance for the scientific rheumatologic community. Rheumatoid arthritis (n = 527), systemic lupus erythematosus (n = 393), vasculitis (n = 267), myositis (n = 71), systemic sclerosis (n = 68), and psoriatic arthritis (n = 68) were the most widely discussed rheumatic diseases in the view of COVID-19. The analysis of Altmetric and citations scores revealed a moderate correlation between them. This article provides a comprehensive bibliometric and altmetric analysis of COVID-19 related articles in the rheumatology field and summarizes data about features of rheumatology service in the time of the pandemic.

Highly cited papers in Takayasu arteritis on Web of Science and Scopus: cross-sectional analysis.

Takayasu arteritis (TAK) is a large vessel vasculitis affecting relatively younger population. Since literature on bibliometric analysis of TAK is scarce, we analyzed top-cited articles in TAK to address this knowledge gap. We analyzed the top hundred cited articles in TAK on Web of Science and Scopus for time of publication, article type, country of origin, source journal, and authors. Furthermore, we conducted univariable- and multivariable-adjusted linear regression analyses to explore associations of rank of cited articles, mean number of annual citations, and total citations with traditional (journal impact factor, CiteScore) and alternative (PlumX) metrics. Concordance between databases was 76%. Most top-cited articles were from the USA, Japan, or the UK, and published in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Arthritis and Rheumatism, and Circulation and Rheumatology (Oxford). Original articles comprised a majority of these top-cited articles. Articles describing criteria or disease management recommendations received the highest mean number of citations. Performing multivariable-adjusted linear regression analyses, years of publication associated with mean annual citations on Web of Science as well as total citations across databases (p < 0.01). The 2-year JIF significantly associated with mean annual citations on Web of Science (p = 0.047). On Scopus, the number of captures denoted under PlumX metrics consistently associated with citations (p < 0.001). Both traditional and alternative metrics associate with higher citations in TAK. Development of disease assessment and clinical practice guidelines and conduct and reporting of randomized controlled trials to guide TAK management are important research areas. The key points themselves are all right. Key Points • A majority of top-cited papers in TAK are original articles. • Both traditional and alternative metrics associate with number of citations for these papers. • Recommendations for disease assessment or clinical practice and clinical trials are important research agenda in TAK.

Rheumatology and Autoimmunity—A new major development in Chinese rheumatology. Greetings from Norway!

<i>Rheumatology and Autoimmunity</i>—A new major development in Chinese rheumatology. Greetings from Norway!

A bibliometric analysis of rheumatology and COVID-19 researches.

ObjectiveCOVID-19 has had a substantial impact on rheumatology. There were many studies about rheumatology and COVID-19. But there is no study about bibliometric analysis of these studies. This study provides a general overview of studies on rheumatology and COVID-19.MethodsData were taken from the Web of Science (WoS) website. Analysis and network visualization mapping processes were carried out using VOSviewer. We used the following keywords: “COVID-19” and “Rheumatology”; “Coronavirus” and “Rheumatology”; “2019-nCoV” and “Rheumatology”; “SARS-CoV-2” and “Rheumatology”; “COVID-19” and “Rheumatic Disease”; “Coronavirus” and “Rheumatic Disease”; “2019-nCoV” and “Rheumatic Disease”; “SARS-CoV-2” and “Rheumatic Disease”; “COVID-19” and “Rheumatism”; “Coronavirus” and “Rheumatism”; “2019-nCoV” and “Rheumatism”; and “SARS-CoV-2” and “Rheumatism.” A total of 234 publications were analyzed, and the correlations between citation numbers and reference counts, usage counts, and page numbers were analyzed with Spearman correlation coefficients.ResultsThe average number of citations per item was 6.03. The studies were cited 1411 times in total, and 1121 times without self-citations. The countries with the highest number of publications on rheumatology and COVID-19 were the USA and England; the countries with the highest number of citations were Italy and the USA, and Jinoos Yazdany was the most cited author. The Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases was the most cited journal, whereas the highest number of articles on rheumatology and COVID-19 were published in Arthritis and Rheumatology.ConclusionsBibliometric analysis of rheumatology and COVID-19 can be useful to future studies because it provides a general perspective on the studies. This study provides an insight into the development of publications on rheumatology during the COVID-19 pandemic. Key Points• Covid-19 has substantial impact on rheumatology.• There many studies about rheumatology and COVID-19. But there is no study about bibliometric analysis of these studies.• This study provides a general perspective of the studies about rheumatology and COVID-19.• This study aims to inform the efforts to improve the studies about rheumatology studies during the pandemic process and to analyze the publications about both rheumatology and COVID-19 with bibliometric methods.• Bibliometric analysis about rheumatology and COVID-19 can be useful and helpful tool for future studies.

POS1172 COVID-19 ACROSS RHEUMATOLOGY: A BIBLIOMETRIC STUDY

Background:The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak spread rapidly among the whole world, becoming the greatest pandemic for the decades. It triggered the enormous challenges for the global health system, forcing doctors and patients to adapt to new realities and the field of rheumatology was not an exclusion.Objectives:The aim of this study was to analyze articles covering interconnection between COVID-19 and rheumatic diseases; to investigate the common features of papers in this category and indicate the most influential among them; to determine which rheumatic nosologies were most represented.Methods:For retrieving of literature data, we applied the bibliometric database Scopus and conducted our search on 12th of January using following keywords: “rheumatoid arthritis” OR “systemic lupus erythematosus” OR “systemic sclerosis” OR “vasculitis” OR “myositis” OR “rheumatology” AND “COVID-19”. All selected articles were analyzed according to various aspects: type of document, authorship, journal, citations score, rheumatology field, country of origin, language, and keywords. We have built the visualizing keywords network (Figure 1) with the help of software tool VOSviewer version 1.6.15 (the minimum keyword occurrence threshold was set at 5).Figure 1.Results:A total of 844 literature items were obtained. After screening of title, abstract and keywords we excluded 106 records as they were not emphasized the rheumatological perspective on COVID-19 and as a result were inapplicable for this study. The 738 retrieved articles were mostly (86.8%) open access publications. The top five journals that contributed most to the coverage of this topic were: Annals Of The Rheumatic Diseases (n=59), Clinical Rheumatology (n=41), Lancet Rheumatology (n=24), Arthritis And Rheumatology (n=20) and Rheumatology International (n=19). The origin of most studies was not surprisingly from those countries, which belong to the top ten according to the total cases of COVID-19 [1] (USA – 167; Italy – 148; UK – 76; India – 60 and Spain – 58). Most items were written in English but articles in German (n=12), Spanish (n=11), Russian (n=5) and Chinese (n=2) could also be found. Analyzed studies were designed in the form of Original Articles (41.2%), Reviews (23.7%), Letters (21.8), Notes (6.9%), Editorials (5.1%). According to the citations scores, articles of highest interest were dedicated to clinical course of COVID-19 in patients with autoimmune pathologies. The other highly cited studies were about cytokine storm and perspective usage of biological drugs for severe cases of COVID-19. Our analysis of keywords showed that the most widely discussed rheumatic disease in the view of COVID-19 was systemic lupus erythematosus (n=188), followed by vasculitis (n=132), rheumatoid arthritis (n=90), systemic sclerosis (n=32) and psoriatic arthritis (24). The liveliest discussion about disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs in COVID-19 revolved around hydroxychloroquine (n=305), corticosteroids (n=161), tocilizumab (n=83), methotrexate (n=46) and anakinra (n=34).Conclusion:As far as we know, it is the first bibliometric overview of studies dedicated to interrelation between COVID-19 and rheumatic pathology. The high number of open access items contributes to the increase of research visibility in this emergently developing research field and facilitates the process of scientific data sharing. The conducting of bibliographic studies may provide a valuable guide through this area of knowledge.

Top 100 cited articles on ankylosing spondylitis

Ankylosing spondylitis is a global health problem. There are continuous innovations in terms of etiopathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment. Here, the top 100 most cited articles on ankylosing spondylitis during the last three decades are analyzed. On April 6, 2020, the Web of Science was screened from 1984 to 2020 using the terms ankylosing spondylitis; the top 100 most cited articles were identified. For bibliometric analysis, the name of the article, year of publication, author information, number of citations, name of the publishing journal, H-index, impact factor, countries of the authors, types of articles, and funding sources were recorded. The Altmetric attention was recorded using a program that automatically calculates the score. The total number of citations of the articles in the list ranged from 176 to 3700. Arthritis and Rheumatism (n=31) and Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (n=27) were the two leading journals in which the majority of the articles were published. Germany produced most of the articles; Braun J was the most cited author. Randomized controlled clinical trials were found to constitute most of the articles (n=35). According to the citation number, studies evaluating classification criteria and disease activity indices and, according to the Altmetric Attention Score, studies addressing the prevalence and biological agents were prominent. We present a perspective on the extent to which the most cited articles on ankylosing spondylitis draw interest in the scientific community and on social media platforms.

Greetings from the editor 2019

First of all, let me wish you a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year—may your personal and professional wishes come true. Second, let me thank you for your continued support...

2008–2018: a decade of recommendations for systemic lupus erythematosus

Recommendations represent a popular way of integrating evidence-based medicine to clinical practice. These systematically developed statements can assist practitioner and patient decisions about appropriate healthcare, facilitate teaching of students and...

Why did IL-23p19 inhibition fail in AS: a tale of tissues, trials or translation?

Clinical trials investigating biologic immune targeting therapeutics should deliver insight regardless of direction of the primary clinical outcome. Given the remarkable specificity of the ‘molecular scalpels’ now consequent upon the...

DEFINITION OF THE TERM «RHEUMATOLOGY»: DO WE NEED THIS AND HOW DO THE EULAR AND THE ACR LOOK AT THIS?

The paper discusses the article «Common language description of the term rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs) for use in communication with the lay public, healthcare providers and other stakeholders endorsed by the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) and the American College of Rheumatology (ACR)» that appeared in the on-line first journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases in March 2018. It is shown that, on the one hand, the development of the definition is positive, but, on the other, blurs the verges of rheumatology due to the introduction of nosological entities that are absolutely unrelated to our profession.

Risk of malignancy in ankylosing spondylitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Current knowledge about the overall and site-specific risk of malignancy associated with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is inconsistent. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to address this knowledge gap. Five databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, the Cochrane library and the virtual health library) were systematically searched. A manual search of publications within the last 2 years in key journals in the field (Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Rheumatology and Arthritis & rheumatology) was also performed. STATA 11.2 software was used to conduct the meta-analysis. After screening, twenty-three studies, of different designs, were eligible for meta-analysis. AS is associated with a 14% (pooled RR 1.14; 95% CI 1.03–1.25) increase in the overall risk for malignancy. Compared to controls, patients with AS are at a specific increased risk for malignancy of the digestive system (pooled RR 1.20; 95% CI 1.01 to 1.42), multiple myelomas (pooled RR 1.92; 95% CI 1.37 to 3.69) and lymphomas (pooled RR 1.32; 95% CI 1.11 to 1.57). On subgroup analysis, evidence from high quality cohort studies indicated that AS patients from Asia are at highest risk for malignancy overall. Confirmation of findings from large-scale longitudinal studies is needed to identify specific risk factors and to evaluate treatment effects.