Short Term Efficacy of Tumor Necrosis Factor Inhibitors in Patients with non-radiographic Axial Spondylarthritis and ankylosing Spondylitis; Results from Turkbio Registry.

[No Abstract Available

Impacts of Anti-TNF Treatment on Improvement in Work Place and Household Productivity in Patients with Psoriatic Arthritis

WOS: 000417143400088

Clinical Features of Takayasu's Arteritis from an Inception Cohort: Early Disease Is Characterized By 'systemic Inflammation'

WOS: 000417143401305

The management of gout in different clinical specialties in Turkey: a patient-based survey

mercan, ridvan/0000-0003-1537-2192; Tezcan, Mehmet Engin/0000-0002-1753-4936; TUFAN, Abdurrahman/0000-0001-6244-9362WOS: 000388826200020PubMed: 27722972Although gout is potentially curable, the management of this disease is often suboptimal. In this study, we investigated the treatment of gout in Turkey and also compared the management approaches to gout in different clinical specialties. Three hundred and nineteen consecutive patients (mean age 58.60 +/- 12.8 years; 44 females, 275 males) were included in this multicenter study. A standardized form was generated to collect data about the patient's first admission to health care, the specialty of the doctor first diagnosed the gout, the treatment options for gout including attack management, patient referral, chronic treatment including medical treatment, and life style modifications. Forty patients were referred to another center without any treatment (12.8 %), and referral rate is most common among the primary care physicians (28.8 %). Colchicine was more commonly used for attack prophylaxis than allopurinol. Ninety-two patients had never been treated with allopurinol (28.8 %). Allopurinol prescription was less common among the primary care physicians and orthopedists, and highest among the rheumatologists. Recommendation of diet and life style modifications was less common among the primary care physicians and orthopedists, and highest among the rheumatologists. The rates of life style modification recommendation and long-term allopurinol prescription were 83.7 and 77.6 %, respectively, among the rheumatologists. Both acute and chronic management of gout is suboptimal in Turkey especially among the primary care physicians and orthopedists. Moreover, chronic treatment is even suboptimal among rheumatologists

Characteristics Predicting Tuberculosis Risk under Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha Inhibitors: Report from a Large Multicenter Cohort with High Background Prevalence

WOS: 000378167600010PubMed ID: 26773107Objective. Screening strategies for latent tuberculosis (TB) before starting tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha inhibitors have decreased the prevalence of TB among patients who are treated with these agents. However, despite vigilant screening, TB continues to be an important problem, especially in parts of the world with a high background TB prevalence. The aim of this study was to determine the factors related to TB among a large multicenter cohort of patients who were treated with anti-TNF. Methods. Fifteen rheumatology centers participated in this study. Among the 10,434 patients who were treated with anti-TNF between September 2002 and September 2012, 73 (0.69%) had developed TB. We described the demographic features and disease characteristics of these 73 patients and compared them to 7695 patients who were treated with anti-TNF, did not develop TB, and had complete data available. Results. Among the 73 patients diagnosed with TB (39 men, 34 women, mean age 43.6 +/- 13 yrs), the most frequent diagnoses were ankylosing spondylitis (n = 38) and rheumatoid arthritis (n = 25). More than half of the patients had extrapulmonary TB (39/73, 53%). Six patients died (8.2%). In the logistic regression model, types of anti-TNF drugs [infliximab (IFX), OR 3.4, 95% CI 1.88-6.10, p = 0.001] and insufficient and irregular isoniazid use (<9 mos; OR 3.15, 95% CI 1.43-6.9, p = 0.004) were independent predictors of TB development. Conclusion. Our results suggest that TB is an important complication of anti-TNF therapies in Turkey. TB chemoprophylaxis less than 9 months and the use of IFX therapy were independent risk factors for TB development

Is there a relationship between gouty arthritis and Mediterranean fever gene mutations?

Objective: Gouty arthritis and familial Mediterranean fever share some clinical and pathological features such as being classified as auto-inflammatory disease, association with inflammasome, short-lived intermittent arthritis, and good response to colchicine and anti-interleukin-1 treatments. As Mediterranean fever gene is the causative factor of familial Mediterranean fever, we aimed to investigate the prevalence of Mediterranean fever gene mutations and their effect on disease manifestations in Turkish gouty arthritis patients

Mediterranean fever (MEFV) gene mutation frequency is not increased in adults with rheumatic heart disease

It is well established that there are people with higher risk of developing acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD). Mediterranean fever (MEFV) gene mutations might be one of the genetic predisposition factors in the development of ARF/RHD since defect in familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) patients is proposed to be heightened inflammatory response to certain stimuli. Previous clinical observations suggested a relationship between FMF and ARF/RHD. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of the MEFV gene mutations in the susceptibility to RHD in Turkish patients. A total of 100 patients with RHD and 100 healthy controls were included in the study. Diagnosis of RHD was based on echocardiographic findings in which a predominant mitral stenosis was used as an inclusion criterion. Genetic analysis was carried out by sequence analysis investigating two hot spots (exons 2 and 10) for MEFV mutations. Mutation analysis showed that 22 RHD patients (22%) and 24 healthy controls (24%) carried at least one mutated allele. MEFV mutations were identified in 22 of 200 (11%) chromosomes in RHD patients while 26 of the 200 (13%) chromosomes of healthy controls were found to carry a mutated allele. No difference was found in allele frequencies and their distribution between the patients and healthy controls (p = 0.54). MEFV mutations are not associated with a predisposition to develop RHD in adult Turkish patients