Latent Tuberculosis Infection and Associated Factors in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: a Multicenter, Cross-Sectional Study.

The objectives of this study were to screen for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) using the T-SPOT.TB assay and to identify factors affecting the assay results. SLE patients were enrolled from 13 tertiary hospitals in eastern, central, and western China from September 2014 to March 2016 and were screened using the T-SPOT.TB assay to detect LTBI. Basic information about the subjects was collected, including gender, age, body mass index (BMI), course of disease, evidence of previous tuberculosis, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index 2000 (SLEDAI-2K) score, and the use of glucocorticoids and immunosuppressants. Univariate analysis and multivariable logistic regression were performed to identify factors affecting the results of the T-SPOT.TB assay. In all, 2,229 SLE patients were screened using the T-SPOT.TB assay, of whom 334 patients tested positive, yielding a positivity rate of 15% (95% confidence interval [CI], 13.5% to 16.5%). The positivity rate was higher in male than female patients and had an increasing trend with age. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that patients over 40 (odds ratio [OR], 1.65; 95% CI, 1.29 to 2.10) and with evidence of previous tuberculosis (OR, 4.43; 95% CI, 2.81 to 6.99) were more likely to have positive T-SPOT.TB results, while patients with a SLEDAI-2K score of ≥10 (OR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.43 to 0.88), a glucocorticoid dose of ≥60 mg/d (OR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.39 to 0.98), leflunomide (LEF) treatment (OR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.29 to 0.88), or tacrolimus (FK506) treatment (OR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.16 to 1.00) were more likely to have negative T-SPOT.TB results. The frequencies of CFP-10-specific gamma interferon (IFN-γ)-secreting T cells were significantly lower in SLE patients with severe disease activity or high-dose glucocorticoids (P < 0.05). The positivity rate of the T-SPOT.TB assay was 15% among SLE patients. Severe, active SLE disease and the use of high-dose glucocorticoids and some types of immunosuppressants are likely to result in negative T-SPOT.TB results. For SLE patients with the above conditions, diagnosing LTBI based on a positive T-SPOT.TB result may lead to underestimation of the prevalence. IMPORTANCE The burden of tuberculosis and systemic lupus erythematosus in China ranks among the top three in the world. Therefore, active screening for LTBI and preventive intervention in SLE patients are of great significance in China. In view of the lack of relevant data in a large sample, we conducted a multicenter, cross-sectional study using T-SPOT.TB as a screening method for LTBI, to investigate the prevalence of LTBI and analyze the factors affecting the results of the T-SPOT.TB assay in SLE patients. Our study showed that the overall positivity rate of the T-SPOT.TB assay in SLE patients was 15.0%, which was lower than the estimated LTBI prevalence in the general population in China (~20%). For SLE patients with severe, active disease, high-dose glucocorticoids, and some types of immunosuppressants, a diagnosis of LTBI based on only positive T-SPOT.TB results may lead to underestimation of the prevalence.

Prevalence and risk factors of active tuberculosis in patients with rheumatic diseases: a multi-center, cross-sectional study in China.

Evidence of active tuberculosis (ATB) in patients with rheumatic diseases are research priorities but limited data from China have been reported. Research targeting patients not taking anti-TNF biologics are especially insufficient. We aimed to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of ATB in this at-risk population. We conducted a tertiary hospital-based, multi-center, cross-sectional study by using stratified multi-stage cluster sampling strategy to screen ATB in patients with rheumatic diseases. We estimated the prevalence of ATB in patients with rheumatic diseases and identified risk factors among those who were not taking anti-TNF biologic. A total of 13,550 eligible patients were enrolled, and the result showed the standardized prevalence of ATB according to the composition ratio of various types of rheumatic disease was 882/100000 (95% confidence interval (CI): 706-1057). Multivariable logistic regression analysis in patients not taking anti-TNF biologics showed that the independent risk factors of ATB were having systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (OR=2.722, 95% CI: 1.437-5.159, p=0.002), having Behcet's disease (BD) (OR= 5.261, 95% CI: 2.071-13.365, p<0.001), taking azathioprine(AZA) within the past two years (OR=2.095, 95% CI: 0.986-4.450, p=0.054), exposing to glucocorticoids ≥30mg/d for more than four weeks within the past two years (OR=2.031, 95% CI: 1.247-3.309, p=0.004) and having evidences of previous TB (OR= 6.185, 95% CI: 3.487-10.969, p<0.001). The prevalence of ATB was higher in patients with rheumatic diseases compared to the general population. Patients with SLE or BD, prolonged exposure to moderate to high dose of glucocorticoids and previous TB were independent risk factors for ATB.

Remission assessment of rheumatoid arthritis in daily practice in China: a cross-sectional observational study.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the remission rate and describe the current use of medication in a large cohort of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients under routine clinical care in China. RA patients were recruited from 40 large teaching hospitals nationwide in China. Data regarding RA disease activity, medication treatment, and adverse events were recorded using a standardized clinical data questionnaire. RA remission was evaluated by the 28 Joint Disease Activity Score DAS28-ESR Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI), Simplified Disease Activity Index (SDAI), and American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism (ACR/EULAR) remission criteria. A total of 1945 patients with RA were included in the study. The proportions of patients who fulfilled the DAS28-ESR, CDAI, SDAI, and ACR/EULAR remission criteria were 10.90%, 6.17%, 5.04% , and 1.75%, respectively. Most patients had taken at least one disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD), and the most common prescriptions included leflunomide (LEF) and methotrexate (MTX). DMARD combined with botanics were the most common and dominant strategy for RA management (29.16%). Overall, 433 patients (22.27%) had at least one adverse event. Gastrointestinal adverse events (41.27%) were the most frequently reported events. The incidence of side effects in patients using biologics DMARDs (bDMARDs) was significantly lower than that in those taking MTX, LEF, or sulfasalazine (SSZ). The remission rate of RA disease activity, as assessed in Chinese clinical practice, was very low. Adverse effects of the medicine occurred in approximately one in five RA patients, with bDMARDs were demonstrated to be the medication with the lowest side effects.

[Acupuncture combined with Western medicine for angina of coronary artery disease: a systematic review].

The effectiveness and safety of acupuncture combined with western medicine for angina of coronary artery disease are evaluated. Databases including Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane Library, CBMDisk,. CNKI, Wanfang, Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, etc. are searched with search time from beginning of the database establishment to January of 2014. As a result, totally 15 articles of acupuncture for angina of coronary artery disease that met the inclusive criteria were collected, involving 11 researches and 1 232 patients. The results of Meta-analysis indicate that based on regular western medicine, additional use of acupuncture could further improve symptoms of angina, increase efficacy of electrocardiogram (ECG) and reduce the dosage of nitroglycerin, in the meanwhile the hemorheology could be ameliorated, and the contents of C reactive protein (CRP), malondialdehyde (MDA), lipid peroxide (LPO), endothelin (ET) could be reduced, while the contents of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and nitric oxide (NO) could be increased; besides, the occurrence rate of cardiovascular event could be reduced without causing obvious adverse events. Except for certain outcomes (including dynamic ECG and blood viscosity) those have no statistical significance between treatment group and control group, the differences of remaining outcomes are: statistically significant. It is believed that acupuncture combined with regular treatment of western medicine are effective treatment plan for angina of coronary artery disease, which are superior to regular treatment of western medicine, but the results of this systematic review be taken with caution, and more clinical trials with high quality are looking forward to be included into Meta-analysis to increase the level of evidence.

The association between blood lipid and phlegm turbidity syndrome of angina pectoris: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: A series of case-control studies have been conducted to investigate the association between blood lipid and phlegm turbidity syndrome of angina pectoris, but produced inconsistent results. OBJECTIVE: We performed a meta-analysis to determine the association between blood lipid and phlegm turbidity syndrome of angina pectoris more precisely. METHODS: Manual screening as well as screening of the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Journal full-text database (VIP), Wanfang database (WF), ScienceDirect, Pubmed, the Cochrane Library, and Embase were carried out for relevant literature. The formula was translated to calculate the pooled mean value and standard deviation value. The "Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale: Case-Control Studies" (NOS) was taken to assess the quality of the included studies. The Revman 5.2.6 software provided by "The Cochrane Collaboration" was used to analyze the collected data. The subgroup analysis was established according to the sample size proportion between the test group and the control group. Sensitivity analysis was constructed by using two different effect models. Besides, a funnel plot was created to analyze potential publication bias. RESULTS: No statistically meaningful difference existed between the test group and control group of total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) in non-Qi and yin deficiency syndrome (QYDS) and non-Yang deficiency syndrome (YDS) subgroup, whereas the two biotic indicators in the test group were higher than the non-phlegm syndrome group in other subgroups. Triglyceride (TG) in phlegm syndrome group showed superior to non-phlegm syndrome group in the rest subgroups except for the non-CCS (Cold coagulating syndrome)-non-YDS subgroup. High-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) levels of the phlegm group were lower than that of the non-phlegm group in all subgroups. CONCLUSION: When comparing with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) syndromes of asthenia nature, such as YDS, QYDS, and heart qi deficiency syndrome), the levels of TG, TC, and LDL-C were higher in phlegm turbidity syndrome. However, for sthenia syndromes such as Qi stagnation syndrome (QSS), heart blood stasis syndrome (HBSS), and CCS, there was no obvious difference. Furthermore, HDL-C levels in the phlegm turbidity group were lower than those of the non-phlegm group. Nevertheless, these results should be confirmed with further studies.