Effect of disease activity on the clinical outcome of SARS CoV-2 in patients with underlying rheumatic diseases; data from global rheumatology alliance.

Objectives: To determine the effect of disease activity on clinical outcomes of coronavirus disease-2019 in patients with rheumatic diseases. METHODS: The prospective, cohort study was conducted from January 1st to June 30th, 2021, at Rheumatology department, Fauji Foundation Hospital, Rawalpindi. It comprised patients of rheumatic disorders who were affected by coronavirus disease-2019. The patients were categorised according to rheumatic disease activity into remission group I, low disease activity group II, moderate group III and high-activity group IV. Coronavirus disease-2019 outcomes compared included recovered vs death, hospitalisation yes vs no, mechanical ventilation yes vs no. The association of disease activity status with coronavirus disease-2019 outcomes was explored. Data was analysed using SPSS 23. RESULTS: Of the 100 patients, 78(78%) were females and 22(22%) were males. The overall mean age was 45.60±13.7 years. There were 23(23%) patients in group I, 42(42%) patients in group II, 21(21%) patients in group III and 14(14%) patients in group IV. Overall,17(17%) patients died and 83(83%) patients survived. In group III, 7(33.3%) patients died, followed by 6(42.9%) in group IV (p<0.05). In total, 7(7%) patients needed mechanical ventilation, with 3(21.4%) being in group IV (p<0.05). Hospitalisation was needed in 33(33%) cases, and intergroup comparison was non-significant (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with severe rheumatic autoimmune disease affected by coronavirus disease-2019 were more likely to die and require invasive ventilation.

Translation and validation of Modified Health Assessment Questionnaire score in local language Urdu in patients with rheumatoid arthritis presenting in a tertiary care center of Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE: To translate and validate the Modified Health Assessment Questionnaire from English to Urdu. METHODS: The validation study was conducted at the Rheumatology outpatient department of Fauji Foundation Hospital, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, from July 1 to September 30, 2019. Two translators were given the modified health assessment questionnaire for translation from English to Urdu. It was then back-translated by two independent translators. The translated version of the tool was applied to rheumatoid arthritis patients to check for reliability, test-retest and internal consistency. It was applied to another group of patients to check for criterion validity. Reliability analysis was checked by applying Cronbach alpha. Criterion validity was checked by assessing disease activity score-28 and its correlation with Modified Health Assessment Questionnaire. Data was analysed using SPSS 23. RESULTS: Of the 30 patients in the initial testing, 28(93%) were females and 2(6.6%) were males, with an overall mean age of 38±13.2 years. Of the 100 patients in the second group, 97(97%) were women and 3(3%) were men, with an overall mean age of 42±12.37 years. The mean disease duration of the cohort was 8.4±4.8 years. The Cronbach alpha value was 0.797 and interclass coefficient was 0.7, reflecting good reliability. A significantly high correlation between Modified Health Assessment Questionnaire and disease activity score-28 was noted along with pain, tenderness, swollen joints, patient global assessment, age and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (p<0.05), while poor correlation was found with gender, disease duration, rheumatoid arthritis factor and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The Urdu version of the Modified Health Assessment Questionnaire was found to be a reliable tool for the indigenous population.

Corona Virus Disease-19 Vaccine-associated Autoimmune Disorders.

Coronavirus disease is a highly infectious viral disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome virus (SARS nCoV2). It was declared a pandemic within a few months of identification of its index case. The spread of COVID-19 across the globe was rampant, overwhelming healthcare systems and crippling global economies. Since the world was caught off guard by the pandemic, vaccine programs had to be rolled out in emergency to curb its spread. Ten vaccines have been granted Emergency Use Authorization thus far. Much of the side effects we know today are post-marketing adverse effects. Most of them are mild like myalgia and injection-site reactions, but a few of them such as post-vaccination autoimmune diseases have alerted the medical community. These include vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia, autoimmune hepatitis, myocarditis, and Graves' disease. We attempt to summarize the diverse autoimmune phenomena reported after COVID-19 vaccination, with an aim to sensitize the medical community so that they can be better equipped in management when confronted with these diseases. This review by no means refutes the potential benefit of COVID-19 vaccination which has consolidated its place in preventing infections and substantially reducing severity and mortality.

A Comparison Of Mycophenolate Mofetil And Cyclophosphamide As Lupus Nephritis Induction Therapy.

BACKGROUND: Lupus nephritis and its induction therapies are understudied subjects in rheumatology especially in our population. The objective of this study is to compare the renal response to Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) and Cyclophosphamide (CYC) as induction therapy in the Pakistani population with lupus nephritis. METHODS: This is a comparative retrospective study conducted at the department of rheumatology, Fauji Foundation Hospital (FFH), Rawalpindi, and the duration of the study was 1.5 years from July 2016 to December 2017. The study includes 28 patients, all females, ages between 18 to 50 years. All have biopsy proven lupus nephritis (LN). All 28 LN patients have either stage III, IV, V. They were investigated and analysed over 1.5 years. 14 patients were given MMF (2.5 gram/day) (MMF group) and 14 patients were given CYC (NIH protocol/monthly) (CYC group) for 24 weeks as induction therapy. Comparison of baseline characteristics, complete and partial renal responses to treatment was seen in the MMF and CYC groups. RESULTS: Primary end point (complete response) is achieved in 6 (42.85%) in MMF group and 5 (35.71%) in the CYC group. The secondary end point (partial response) was achieved in 5 (35.71%) patients in the MMF group and 6(42.85%) in the CYC group. The difference in the cumulative probability of complete and partial response was not statistically significant between the two groups (P-0.470 for CR) and (p-value 0.132 for PR). CONCLUSIONS: Mycophenolate mofetil is a new therapy for LN and it has equal efficacy as compared to CYC for LN induction.

Are we missing the diagnosis of depression in patients with rheumatoid arthritis at a tertiary care facility?

OBJECTIVES: To determine if we are missing clinical depression in patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis and its relationship with functional disability and level of formal education in such patients. METHODS: The data for this cross-sectional, analytical study was gathered from May 2015 till December 2015 and comprised of 128 with Rheumatoid arthritis diagnosed according to ACR/EULAR 2010 criteria. The study was conducted at Fauji Foundation Hospital Rawalpindi. Functional status was assessed with Modified Health Assessment Questionnaire (mHAQ) and Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI) was used for evaluation of symptoms of depression. The relation between depression, functional disability and educational status was established using Pearson correlation coefficient. RESULTS: The study included 128 patients with no previous diagnosis of depression. 122 (95.3%) were females and 6 (4.7%) were males. The mean age was 51.75 ± 9.25 years. Mean duration of disease was 8.95 ± 7.1 years. According to this study, the diagnosis of clinical depression was missed in 47.7% of patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis who had been under regular follow up at a tertiary care facility. About 18% were keen to seek professional help for depressive symptoms while 62.6% had functional disability (mild - severe). There is a positive correlation with BDI (Pearson's correlation +1) and functional disability. No correlation could be established between level of education and depression as out of 79 (61.7%) patients with no basic education, 45.5% had depression. In remaining 49 (38.2%) patients, with some formal education, 51.3% had clinical depression. CONCLUSION: Almost half of the patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis coming to a tertiary care set up had clinical depression but were never diagnosed or referred to a Psychiatrist. There is a positive correlation between depression and functional disability; however no statistically significant correlation could be established with the level of formal education. The study further emphasizes the importance of early recognition and swift referral of such patients to a psychiatrist since it is known to improve both treatment outcomes and functional status.

Patients' knowledge on Rheumatoid Arthritis - A study at a tertiary care hospital.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the level of disease awareness among patients of rheumatoid arthritis. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted at the Fauji Foundation Hospital, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, from January to June 2015, and comprised patients with rheumatoid arthritis. A self-made questionnaire was used which was translated in Urdu. The questionnaire had three sets of questions. The first set gathered information on the gender, age, level of education and the duration of the disease of the patient. The second set included questions regarding the symptoms, possible complications and the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. The third set focused on the aetiology, gender predominance and source of knowledge regarding rheumatoid arthritis. SPSS 21 was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Of the 200 participants,188(94%) were females and 12(6%) were males. The mean age of the participants was 50±12.96 years. Moreover, 96(48%) patients were aged between 51-70 years. Only 3(1.5%) patients were considered aware; 48(25%) were considered partially aware; and 149(74.5%) were considered unaware. CONCLUSIONS: Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disease requiring long-term management and counselling. Due emphasis should be given to the counselling and education of the patients.

Predictors of response to intra-articular steroid injections in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee joint.

This study aimed to determine the factors associated with response to intra-articular steroid injection (IASI) in patients with knee joint osteoarthritis. One hundred seventy-four female patients, age ranging from 30 to 80 years, diagnosed to have osteoarthritis of the knee joint, were given IASI. Response to IASI was assessed by using WOMAC and VAS at 2 weeks, 4 weeks and 3 months. At 3 months, the subjects were categorized as responders, partial responders and non-responders to treatment by IASI. Various factors were narrowed down to see their effect on response, namely age, BMI, smoking habits, comorbidities, presence of clinical effusion, radiographic score, local knee tenderness, range of movement and socioeconomic status. One hundred twenty-four patients completed the study. 16.1 % showed 50 % or more improvement in WOMAC score at 3 months post IASI therapy, whereas 38.7 % of OA patients had more than 50 % improvement in VAS score. Out of all factors, range of movement, local knee tenderness and radiographic score of the affected joint are the three parameters which can predict the improvement in WOMAC score after 3 months of IASI therapy (P = 0.013, P = 0.045 and P = 0.000, respectively). Age of the patient can predict improvement in VAS at 3 months post IASI (P = 0.027). We conclude that age, range of movement, local knee tenderness and radiographic score of the affected joint can predict response to IASI after 3 months of IASI therapy.

Frequency of methotrexate intolerance in rheumatoid arthritis patients using methotrexate intolerance severity score (MISS questionnaire).

The objective of the study was to determine the frequency of methotrexate intolerance in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients by applying the methotrexate intolerance severity score (MISS) questionnaire and to see the effect of dose and concomitant use of other disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDS) on methotrexate (MTX) intolerance. For the descriptive study, non-probability sampling was carried out in the Female Rheumatology Department of Fauji Foundation Hospital (FFH), Rawalpindi, Pakistan. One hundred and fifty diagnosed cases of RA using oral MTX were selected. The MISS questionnaire embodies five elements: abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fatigue and behavioural symptoms. The amplitude of each element was ranked from 0 to 3 being no complaint (0 points), mild (1 point), moderate (2 points) and severe (3 points). A cut-off score of 6 and above ascertained intolerance by the physicians. A total of 33.3 % of the subjects exhibited MTX intolerance according to the MISS questionnaire. Out of which, the most recurring symptom of all was behavioural with a value of 44 % whereas vomiting was least noticeable with a figure of 11 %. About 6.6 % of the women with intolerance were consuming DMARDs in conjunction with MTX. Those using the highest weekly dose of MTX (20 mg) had supreme intolerance with prevalence in 46.2 % of the patients. The frequency of intolerance decreased with a decrease in weekly dose to a minimum of 20 % with 7.5 mg of MTX. MTX intolerance has moderate prevalence in RA patients and if left undetected, the compliance to use of MTX as a first-line therapy will decrease. Methotrexate intolerance is directly proportional to the dose of MTX taken. Also, there is no upstroke seen in intolerance with the use of other disease-modifying agents.

Nosocomial uropathogens and their antibiotic sensitivity patterns in a tertiary referral teaching hospital in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

BACKGROUND: Nosocomial urinary tract infections (NUTIs) are by definition not present at admission of a patient and are acquired during hospitalisation. The objective of this study was to study the uropathogens and their antibiotic sensitivity patterns in hospital acquired urinary tract infections presenting in a teaching hospital. METHODOLOGY: It was a retrospective descriptive study carried out at the Department of Pathology, Fauji Foundation Hospital, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, during the year 2009. Reports of urine culture and sensitivity performed during one year were retrospectively studied with a view to document various isolates and their antimicrobial sensitivity. RESULTS: Out of a total number of 1204 urine cultures submitted, 246 were found to have nosocomial urinary tract infections. Over all prevalence of nosocomial urinary tract infection in the examined reports was 20.43%. CONCLUSION: Nosocomial Urinary tract infections are common. Gram negative bacilli are most frequent uropathogens and are resistant to commonly used antibiotics. Fosfomycin followed by Gentamycin and Cefotaxime were the most effective antibiotics.