The Prevalence of Familial Mediterranean Fever and Behcet's Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the coexistence of familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) and Behcet's disease (BD)

Effects of vitamin supplements on clinical cardiovascular outcomes: Time to move on!-A comprehensive review

Background & aims: Vitamin supplementations have increasingly been advertised on media and reported to be widely used by the general public to improve cardiovascular health. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people have become more interested in ways to improve and maintain their health. Increased awareness of people on healthy lifestyle is translating into inquisition regarding dietary supplements. Aim: First, focus on the most commonly used vitamin supplements and comprehensively review the evidence for and against recommending them to patients to improve and/or maintain cardiovascular health. Second, illustrate how the interest in studies shifted over time from Vitamin A, E, C, and B to Vitamin D and observational studies led to randomized controlled trials

Anakinra treatment in patients with familial Mediterranean fever: a single-centre experience

Objectives. Anakinra is proven to be effective in controlled trials in terms of attack frequency and subclinical inflammation in colchicine-resistant patients. The objective of this study was to review the patients followed in our single centre with FMF who received anakinra because of insufficient colchicine response

Rituximab as a glucocorticoid-sparing agent in idiopathic inflammatory myopathies: a retrospective single-center cohort study

Background Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) are essentially treated aiming to improve muscle function and extra muscular disease manifestations. Rituximab is potentially a glucocorticoid-sparing agent which was reviewed in multiple studies with small sample sizes due to the rarity of the disease. Higher statistical power can enhance the trustworthiness of alternative treatment modalities yielding the main objective of this study

SARS-CoV-2 Infection and COVID-19 Outcomes in Rheumatic Diseases: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis

OBJECTIVE: The relative risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 disease severity among people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs) compared to those without RMDs is unclear. This study was undertaken to quantify the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection in those with RMDs and describe clinical outcomes of COVID-19 in these patients. METHODS: We conducted a systematic literature review using 14 databases from January 1, 2019 to February 13, 2021. We included observational studies and experimental trials in RMD patients that described comparative rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection, hospitalization, oxygen supplementation/intensive care unit (ICU) admission/mechanical ventilation, or death attributed to COVID-19. Methodologic quality was evaluated using the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal tools or the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. Risk ratios (RRs) and odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated, as applicable for each outcome, using the Mantel-Haenszel formula with random effects models. RESULTS: Of the 5,799 abstracts screened, 100 studies met the criteria for inclusion in the systematic review, and 54 of 100 had a low risk of bias. Among the studies included in the meta-analyses, we identified an increased prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with an RMD (RR 1.53 [95% CI 1.16-2.01]) compared to the general population. The odds of hospitalization, ICU admission, and mechanical ventilation were similar in patients with and those without an RMD, whereas the mortality rate was increased in patients with RMDs (OR 1.74 [95% CI 1.08-2.80]). In a smaller number of studies, the adjusted risk of outcomes related to COVID-19 was assessed, and the results varied; some studies demonstrated an increased risk while other studies showed no difference in risk in patients with an RMD compared to those without an RMD. CONCLUSION: Patients with RMDs have higher rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection and an increased mortality rate