Correction to: Psoriasis in systemic lupus erythematosus: a single-center experience

Clinical Rheumatology - Prof. Ari Polachek on of the author of the published version of this article missed to add his second affiliation which is the Department of Rheumatology, Tel Aviv Sourasky...     

Psoriasis in systemic lupus erythematosus: a single-center experience

The coexistence of psoriasis with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has been reported in limited case series, raising hypotheses about shared pathogenetic mechanisms. Nevertheless, important differences regarding treatment do exist. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence and characteristics of psoriasis in a defined cohort of lupus patients. Patients with psoriasis were retrieved from the University of Toronto Lupus Clinic from its inception in 1970 up to 2015. Charts were hand-searched to collect information concerning demographic, clinical, and therapeutic variables. Patients were matched with non-psoriasis lupus patients to identify the impact of supervening psoriasis on lupus activity, damage accrual, and venous thromboembolic (VTEs) and cardiovascular events (CVEs). Psoriasis was diagnosed in 63 patients (49 females, 14 males) for a prevalence of 3.46% (63/1823). The male-to-female ratio was significantly higher in non-psoriasis patients (0.286 vs. 0.138, p = 0.017). Plaque psoriasis was the most prominent type (55/63, 87.3%) whereas three patients had pustular disease; one had psoriatic arthritis. Nine patients (14.3%) were administered systemic treatment with methotrexate (n = 5), azathioprine (n = 1), ustekinumab (n = 3), and etanercept (n = 1). Psoriasis was definitely deteriorated by hydroxychloroquine in one patient. There was no significant impact of psoriasis on disease activity, damage accrual, VTEs, and CVEs. The prevalence of psoriasis was twice as high as that of the general Canadian population in this lupus cohort. Plaque psoriasis was the most prominent subtype, and topical treatment was adequate in the majority of patients. Supervening psoriasis had no significant impact on lupus activity and damage accrual.     

Predictors of flare in rheumatoid arthritis patients with persistent clinical remission/low disease activity: Data from the TARAC cohort

To identify predictors of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity flare in RA patients who achieved low disease activity (LDA) or persistent remission from the observational Thai Army Rheumatoid Arthritis Cohort study.RA patients with persistent clinical remission, defined by disease activity score 28 (DAS28) < 2.6 and LDA defined by DAS28 ≤ 3.2 for 3 consecutive months, were recruited and followed-up for at least 2 years. The flare was defined by an escalation of DAS28 ≥ 1.2 plus their physicians’ decision to enhance RA treatment. Differences between sustained remission/LDA and flare groups were analyzed, by Chi-square test and unpaired Student t test. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was conducted to determine flare predictors.From 199 RA patients, female were 82.9%. Anticitrullinated peptide antibodies (ACPA) or Rheumatoid factor (RF) were found in 69.8% of patients. Flares occurred in 69 patients (34.9%). Multivariate analysis found that the timescale from symptoms emergence to DMARD commencement, the timescale from DMARD commencement to when RA patients showed remission/LDA, the occurrence of RF or ACPA, LDA (in contrast to remission) and the increased DAS28 score when remission/LDA was achieved and tapering DMARDs promptly when persistent remission/LDA was achieved were predictors of RA flares with hazard ratios of (95% confidence interval [CI]) of 1.017 (1.003–1.030), 1.037 (1.015–1.059), 1.949 (1.035–3.676), 1.926 (0.811–4.566), 2.589 (1.355–4.947), and 2.497 (1.458–4.276), respectively.These data demonstrated that early and aggressive DMARDs treatment approach could maintain remission espcially in seropositive patients. Tapering should be applied minimally 6 months after reaching remission.