Inflammatory Bowel Disease-Associated Arthritis Is Associated with Concomitant Autoimmune and Inflammatory Disorders.

BACKGROUND: Extraintestinal Manifestations (EIMs) are a common and potentially debilitating complication of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD), sometimes requiring additional treatment beyond those used to control intestinal disease. IBD-associated arthritis (IAA), a form of spondyloarthritis, is associated with several factors including disease location, sex, and IBD type. However, much remains unknown about other clinical factors predicting development of EIMs. Our goal was to identify additional factors associated with IAA. METHODS: Participants in the LOCATION-IBD cohort were included in this analysis. We performed univariate and multivariate analysis of demographics, clinical data, and patient-reported outcomes data. RESULTS: The LOCATION-IBD cohort included 182 participants with (n = 53) and without (n = 110) joint EIMs and with joint pain of unclear etiology (n = 19). In a multivariate analysis comparing those with and without joint EIMs, female sex (OR = 2.5, p = 0.014), the presence of concomitant autoimmune and inflammatory disorders (OR = 2.5, p = 0.038), and Crohn's disease (OR = 2.9, p = 0.026) were associated with the presence of joint EIMs. CONCLUSION: This analysis reveals patients with IAA are more likely to have concomitant autoimmune disorders. Further studies are needed to confirm this association, understand the mechanisms underlying the common pathogenesis of these concurrent disorders, and evaluate their impact on the treatment of IAA.

Diagnosis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease-Associated Peripheral Arthritis: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)-associated peripheral spondyloarthritis (pSpA) decreases quality of life and remains poorly understood. Given the prevalence of this condition and its negative impact, it is surprising that evidence-based disease definitions and diagnostic strategies are lacking. This systematic review summarizes available data to facilitate development and validation of diagnostics, patient-reported outcomes, and imaging indices specific to this condition. METHODS: A literature search was conducted. Consensus or classification criteria, case series, cross-sectional studies, cohort studies, and randomized controlled trials related to diagnosis were included. RESULTS: A total of 44 studies reporting data on approximately 1500 patients with pSpA were eligible for analysis. Data quality across studies was only graded as fair to good. Due to large heterogeneity, meta-analysis was not possible. The majority of studies incorporated patient-reported outcomes and a physical examination. A total of 13 studies proposed or validated screening tools, consensus, classification, or consensus criteria. A total of 28 studies assessed the role of laboratory tests, none of which were considered sufficiently accurate for use in diagnosis. A total of 17 studies assessed the role of imaging, with the available literature insufficient to fully endorse any imaging modality as a robust diagnostic tool. CONCLUSIONS: This review highlights existing inconsistency and lack of a clear diagnostic approach for IBD-associated pSpA. Given the absence of an evidence-based approach, a combination of existing criteria and physician assessment should be utilized. To address this issue comprehensively, our future efforts will be directed toward pursuit of a multidisciplinary approach aimed at standardizing evaluation and diagnosis of IBD-associated pSpA.

This systematic review highlights the lack of an evidence-based approach to the diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease­associated peripheral spondyloarthritis and the need to standardize evaluation and diagnosis via multidisciplinary collaboration with development of patient-reported outcomes and imaging indices.

Pain, comorbidities, and clinical decision-making: conceptualization, development, and pilot testing of the Pain in Aging, Educational Assessment of Need instrument.

Introduction: Pain is highly prevalent in older adults and often contextualized by multiple clinical conditions (pain comorbidities). Pain comorbidities increase with age and this makes clinical decisions more complex. To address gaps in clinical training and geriatric pain management, we established the Pain in Aging-Educational Assessment of Need (PAEAN) project to appraise the impacts of medical and mental health conditions on clinical decision-making regarding older adults with pain. We here report development and pilot testing of the PAEAN survey instrument to assess clinician perspectives. Methods: Mixed-methods approaches were used. Scoping review methodology was applied to appraise both research literature and selected Medicare-based data. A geographically and professionally diverse interprofessional advisory panel of experts in pain research, medical education, and geriatrics was formed to advise development of the list of pain comorbidities potentially impacting healthcare professional clinical decision-making. A survey instrument was developed, and pilot tested by diverse licensed healthcare practitioners from 2 institutions. Respondents were asked to rate agreement regarding clinical decision-making impact using a 5-point Likert scale. Items were scored for percent agreement. Results: Scoping reviews indicated that pain conditions and comorbidities are prevalent in older adults but not universally recognized. We found no research literature directly guiding pain educators in designing pain education modules that mirror older adult clinical complexity. The interprofessional advisory panel identified 26 common clinical conditions for inclusion in the pilot PAEAN instrument. Conditions fell into three main categories: "major medical", i.e., cardio-vascular-pulmonary; metabolic; and neuropsychiatric/age-related. The instrument was pilot tested by surveying clinically active healthcare providers, e.g., physicians, nurse practitioners, who all responded completely. Median survey completion time was less than 3 min. Conclusion: This study, developing and pilot testing our "Pain in Aging-Educational Assessment of Need" (PAEAN) instrument, suggests that 1) many clinical conditions impact pain clinical decision-making, and 2) surveying healthcare practitioners about the impact of pain comorbidities on clinical decision-making for older adults is highly feasible. Given the challenges intrinsic to safe and effective clinical care of older adults with pain, and attendant risks, together with the paucity of existing relevant work, much more education and research are needed.

ExpLOring the role of the intestinal MiCrobiome in InflammATory bowel disease-AssocIated SpONdylarthritis (LOCATION-IBD).

Background: Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)-associated arthritis is a frequent and potentially debilitating complication of IBD, that can affect those with or without active intestinal disease, and is often difficult to treat. The microbiome is known to play a role in IBD development and has been shown to be associated with inflammatory arthritis without concomitant IBD, but its role in IBD-associated arthritis is still unexplored. Further, disease localization is associated with development of IBD-associated arthritis, and stool compositional profiles are predictive of disease localization, yet mucosal location-specific microbiomes have not been well characterized. To address this gap in understanding, we designed a study (LOCATION-IBD) to characterize the mucosa-associated intestinal microbiome and metabolome in IBD-associated arthritis. Methods: Adults with an established diagnosis of IBD undergoing clinical colonoscopy between May of 2021 and February of 2023 were invited to participate in this study; those interested in participation who met inclusion criteria were enrolled. Prior to enrollment, participants were stratified into those with or without IBD-associated arthritis. All participants were interviewed and had clinical and demographic data collected, and 97.8% completed clinical colonoscopy with biopsy collection. Results and conclusion: A total of 182 participants, 53 with confirmed IBD-associated arthritis, were enrolled in this study, resulting in 1151 biopsies obtained for microbiome and metabolome analysis (median 6, mean 6.3 per participant). Clinical and demographic data obtained from the study population will be analyzed with microbiome and metabolome data obtained from biopsies, with the goal of better understanding the mechanisms underpinning the host-microbiome relationship associated the development of IBD-associated arthritis.

Factors Associated With Extraintestinal Manifestations of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in SPARC-IBD.

BACKGROUND: Extraintestinal manifestations (EIMs) of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) are a common and debilitating feature of disease, occurring in up to 40% of patients with IBD, yet predicting who may develop them is difficult. The goal of our study was to better characterize which patients may be at highest risk of developing not only 1 EIM, but also multiple EIMs, across both diseases. METHODS: A retrospective study of participants enrolled in the SPARC IBD (Study of Prospective Adult Research Cohort with IBD) registry was performed, and demographic and clinical data were analyzed. A total of 1211 patients with data available on EIMs were included, and differences among variables with vs without EIMs were assessed. RESULTS: A total of 329 participants with at least 1 EIM were identified, compared with 882 participants without any EIMs. Crohn's disease patients and women were more likely to have 2 or more EIMs (P = .005 and P ≤ .001, respectively). Participants with ocular manifestations were likeliest to have at least 2 EIMs (P ≤ .001). Even when diagnosis was controlled for, involvement of the right colon (P = .021) was predictive of IBD-associated arthritis across both diseases in a multivariate generalized linear model. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first comprehensive large-cohort assessment of how EIMs relate to one another at the individual vs systems levels. Further, our analysis is the first to recognize specific locations of colon involvement associated with EIMs of IBD, regardless of IBD type. These results are important in identifying patients at risk of developing future EIMs and may help with risk stratification when choosing treatments.

Although extraintestinal manifestations frequently complicate inflammatory bowel disease, predicting those at highest risk of developing them is difficult. We found female patients with Crohn's disease, ocular, and dermatologic manifestations are likeliest to develop multiple extraintestinal manifestations. Further, we found right-sided involvement is predictive of inflammatory bowel disease­associated arthritis.

Diagnostic rate estimation from Medicare records: Dependence on claim numbers and latent clinical features.

OBJECTIVE: International Classification of Disorders version 10 (ICD-10) codes contribute heavily to healthcare data. Medicare claims and other data-sources are used to constitute study populations and appraise healthcare processes. How variability in claims-per-beneficiary impacts diagnostic determinations is inadequately understood. The objective of this study is so assess distributional properties of Medicare claims, and examine claim rates impact on code utilization and rate determinations. METHODS: The study population was Medicare beneficiaries aged 75-79.99 with claim(s) in the 5% standard analytical Carrier and Outpatient files, alive and participating in Medicare part B for all 12 months of 2017. Medicare beneficiary files were processed to create records containing all ICD-10 codes specified, key demographics, Part B and vital status, and the total claims for each 2017 beneficiary. Claim number cohorts were characterized. RESULTS: Beneficiaries meeting inclusion criteria totaled 221,625, these having 7,617,503 claims; 96.4% had between 1 and 120 claims. Median claims were 24 for males (females 25); modal claims were 11 (13). Average distinct codes per beneficiary increased with claims number. The assignment of ICD-10 codes, i.e., 'diagnostic rate estimates' (DRE), increased as claim numbers increased for most codes among those most commonly utilized. For some conditions, mostly benign and age-related, DREs plateaued as claim numbers increased. For other conditions, typically associated with clinical acuity, e.g., chest pain, DREs increased steeply with claims. CONCLUSIONS: Older adult Medicare beneficiaries aged 75-80 exhibited varying claims activity over the course of a year. Although DRE dependence on claim numbers varies across ICD-10 codes, rate estimates are higher for beneficiaries with claim numbers above the median.

Culinary Medicine Training in Core Medical School Curriculum Improved Medical Student Nutrition Knowledge and Confidence in Providing Nutrition Counseling.

Background: Elective culinary medicine education has become popular to help fill important gaps in physician nutrition training. The implementation and outcomes among the inaugural cohort of medical students who received culinary medicine training as a required component of medical school curriculum at the University of Maryland School of Medicine are described. Methods: Following a series of elective pilot sessions, culinary medicine training was provided to all first-year medical students in the 2019-2020 academic year. The 3-hour training included evidence-based nutrition lecture, cooking simple recipes, and group discussion of the application to personal and patient care. Pre-/postsession questionnaires assessed nutrition knowledge, skills, and attitudes as well as nutritional counseling confidence. Paired t-tests estimated mean differences in outcomes pre- and posttraining. Qualitative data were subjected to thematic analysis. Results: Overall, 119 of 125 (95.2%) students provided pre- and posttraining outcomes data. All nutritional and patient counseling outcomes improved (P < .05). Themes of being better prepared to address healthy eating barriers in patient care and personal ability to make healthy dietary changes were noted in qualitative analysis. Conclusion: One session of culinary medicine training in core medical student curriculum was feasible and improved medical student nutrition knowledge, skills, and attitudes and confidence in patient nutrition counseling.

A United States expert consensus to standardise definitions, follow-up, and treatment targets for extra-intestinal manifestations in inflammatory bowel disease.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Extra-intestinal manifestations (EIMs) are a common complication of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), affecting up to half of the patients. Despite their high prevalence, information on standardised definitions, diagnostic strategies, and treatment targets is limited. METHODS: As a starting point for a national EIM study network, an interdisciplinary expert panel of 12 gastroenterologists, 4 rheumatologists, 3 ophthalmologists, 6 dermatologists, and 4 patient representatives was assembled. Modified Delphi consensus methodology was used. Fifty-four candidate items were derived from the literature review and expert opinion focusing on five major EIMs (erythema nodosum, pyoderma gangrenosum, uveitis, peripheral arthritis, and axial arthritis) were rated in three voting rounds. RESULTS: For use in a clinical practice setting and as part of the creation of a prospective registry of patients with EIMs, the panel developed definitions for erythema nodosum, pyoderma gangrenosum, uveitis, peripheral arthritis, and axial arthritis; identified the appropriate and optimal subspecialists to diagnose and manage each; provided methods to monitor disease course; offered guidance regarding monitoring intervals; and defined resolution and recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: Consensus criteria for appropriate and optimal means of diagnosing and monitoring five EIMs have been developed as a starting point to inform clinical practice and future trial design. Key findings include straightforward diagnostic criteria, guidance regarding who can appropriately and optimally diagnose each, and monitoring options that include patient and physician-reported outcomes. These findings will be used in a national multicenter study network to optimise the management of EIMs.

Did COVID-19 impact osteoarthritis - clinical perspective?

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To assess the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on patients with osteoarthritis (OA). RECENT FINDINGS: The COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected patients with OA irrespective of them contracting the infection. Patients with OA had a disruption in access to the healthcare system, which resulted in delays in joint replacement surgeries from cancellations of elective surgical procedures. On the other hand, the pandemic accelerated the drive towards telemedicine and telerehabilitation, with many nonurgent services being delivered remotely whenever possible. Cross-sectional studies showed that the majority of patients with OA were willing to accept the increased risks of contracting the COVID-19 infection and proceed with elective joint replacement surgeries. SUMMARY: The American College of Rheumatology and the European League Against Rheumatism issued guidelines for managing immune-mediated rheumatic diseases during the pandemic. However, these guidelines did not include recommendations for patients with OA.Healthcare providers, including physical therapists, should aim to schedule more frequent telemedicine follow-up appointments to maximize medical management while patients await elective joint procedures.

Bilateral Retinal Vasculitis as the First Presentation of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

BACKGROUND Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) can involve any part of the eye. Keratoconjunctivitis sicca (dry eye) is the most common ocular manifestation, followed by scleritis, episcleritis, and retinitis. Retinal disease affects around 10% of patients with SLE. Mild retinopathy may be asymptomatic. However, severe cases can cause visual loss requiring urgent ophthalmic evaluation. CASE REPORT We present a case of bilateral retinal vasculitis as the presenting manifestation of SLE. A 14-year-old girl with a history of schizophrenia presented to the emergency department (ED) with generalized weakness. Four days before her presentation, she developed itching in her eyes and frontal headaches. In the ED, she reported blurry vision in her left eye only and diffuse arthralgia. The ophthalmic evaluation showed bilateral reduced visual acuity, worse in the left eye. Both eyes had diffuse hemorrhages, white retinal lesions, and blurred optic disc margins. She was diagnosed with panuveitis and retinal vasculitis. The patient was then found to have SLE, diagnosed by the presence of arthralgias, panuveitis, severe bilateral retinal vasculitis, positive ANA and anti-dsDNA, and normocytic anemia. The patient received intravenous methylprednisolone with subsequent oral prednisone upon discharge, hydroxychloroquine, and azathioprine. One year after her presentation, she had significant visual improvement and no other system involvement. CONCLUSIONS Retinal vasculitis, as the presenting symptom of SLE, has been overlooked in large studies. However, the number of case reports documenting this as a presenting symptom, often with minimal or no organ involvement, suggests that upon diagnosis, patients might benefit from a skilled ophthalmic evaluation.

Low Back Pain and Substance Use: Diagnostic and Administrative Coding for Opioid Use and Dependence Increased in U.S. Older Adults with Low Back Pain.

OBJECTIVE: Low back pain (LBP) is a leading cause of pain and disability. Substance use complicates the management of LBP, and potential risks increase with aging. Despite implications for an aging, diverse U.S. population, substance use and LBP comorbidity remain poorly defined. The objective of this study was to characterize LBP and substance use diagnoses in older U.S. adults by age, gender, and race. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study of a random national sample. SUBJECTS: Older adults including 1,477,594 U.S. Medicare Part B beneficiaries. METHODS: Bayesian analysis of 37,634,210 claims, with 10,775,869 administrative and 92,903,649 diagnostic code assignments. RESULTS: LBP was diagnosed in 14.8±0.06% of those more than 65 years of age, more in females than in males (15.8±0.08% vs. 13.4±0.09%), and slightly less in those more than 85 years of age (13.3±0.2%). Substance use diagnosis varied by substance: nicotine, 9.6±0.02%; opioid, 2.8±0.01%; and alcohol, 1.3±0.01%. Substance use diagnosis declined with advancing age cohort. Opioid use diagnosis was markedly higher for those in whom LBP was diagnosed (10.5%) than for those not diagnosed with LBP (1.5%). Most older adults (54.9%) with an opioid diagnosis were diagnosed with LBP. Gender differences were modest. Relative rates of substance use diagnoses in LBP were modest for nicotine and alcohol. CONCLUSIONS: Older adults with LBP have high relative rates of opioid diagnoses, irrespective of gender or age. Most older adults with opioid-related diagnoses have LBP, compared with a minority of those not opioid diagnosed. In caring for older adults with LBP or opioid-related diagnoses, health systems must anticipate complexity and support clinicians, patients, and caregivers in managing pain comorbidities. Older adults may benefit from proactive incorporation of non-opioid pain treatments. Further study is needed.

Medical overuse of therapies and diagnostics in rheumatology.

Medical overuse leads to a burden on healthcare costs and potentially is harmful to patients. We wanted to address medical overuse in musculoskeletal disease and rheumatology. We performed a systemic literature review from PubMed and Embase to study medical overuse. On the initial screen, 1499 studies were identified, 839 of them were related to medical overuse. Out of these, 52 were related to overuse in musculoskeletal diseases. Finally, 20 articles were chosen for this systemic review that reported overuse in rheumatology. The article identifies issues with overtesting, including the use of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry to screen for osteoporosis in women younger than 65 years old and the use of magnetic resonance imaging to evaluate for osteoarthritis. Studies related to overtreatment reported over-prescription of vitamin D supplements resulting in vitamin D toxicity and increased risk of inappropriate prescriptions in patients with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Overtreating osteoporosis was reported after industry-sponsored education. Articles describing methods to reduce overuse included a study showing the reduction of unnecessary dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scans after the introduction of the Choosing Wisely Campaign. Our findings suggest that there is some evidence that overtesting and overtreatment may be present in the field of rheumatology. This review aims to highlight this and help rheumatologists to be aware of overuse practices and provide appropriate evidence-based healthcare.

Recurrent Syncope Due to Concurrent Cardiac Sarcoidosis and Large-Vessel Vasculitis.

BACKGROUND Cardiac sarcoidosis and large-vessel vasculitis are both rare diseases with a variety of presenting symptoms. Both can result in high morbidity and mortality if not diagnosed early. While they are each relatively uncommon on their own, there have been a few reports suggesting they may be more related than previously thought. This case report suggests that the 2 diseases can become symptomatic concurrently, complicating diagnosis. CASE REPORT A 68-year-old male patient was diagnosed concurrently with cardiac sarcoidosis and vasculitis after several episodes of syncope thought to be due to arrhythmia. The patient was treated with high-dose corticosteroids, and repeat imaging showed decreased inflammatory changes in the cardiac tissue and large blood vessels. CONCLUSIONS Prior case reports have described vasculitis and sarcoidosis in the same patient; however, these patients usually had a long history of known sarcoidosis involving several organ systems. This case suggests that physicians should be alert to more limited forms of the disease in a patient with cardiac myopathy of unknown origin with new arrythmia. More research is also needed to determine how granulomatous disease and vasculitis are related to each other.

Lorecivivint, an intra-articular potential disease-modifying osteoarthritis drug.

Introduction: Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis. Knee OA is associated with joint pain, activity limitation, physical disability, reduced health-related quality of life, and increased mortality. To date, all pharmacologic treatments for OA are directed toward pain management. Lorecivivint (LOR) is an investigational agent that has potential as a disease-modifying osteoarthritis drug (DMOAD). It modulates the Wnt signaling pathway by inhibiting CDC-like kinase 2 and dual-specificity tyrosine phosphorylation-regulated kinase 1 A which are molecular regulators in Wnt signaling, chondrogenesis, and inflammation. Areas covered: This paper discusses the current pharmacologic guidelines for the treatment of knee OA and illuminates the potential of a new agent, Lorecivivint, as a disease-modifying osteoarthritis drug (DMOAD). Efficacy and safety and the challenges for this novel agent come under the spotlight. Expert opinion: LOR may be a potential DMOAD for the treatment of patients with knee OA. While the Phase 2A trial did not meet its primary endpoint, preplanned analyses did identify a target population for further evaluation of its potential as a DMOAD. Phase 3 trials are ongoing, but this intra-articular drug is currently considered safe and well tolerated, with no significant reported systemic side effects.

Special Article: 2018 American College of Rheumatology/National Psoriasis Foundation Guideline for the Treatment of Psoriatic Arthritis.

OBJECTIVE: To develop an evidence-based guideline for the pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatment of psoriatic arthritis (PsA), as a collaboration between the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and the National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF). METHODS: We identified critical outcomes in PsA and clinically relevant PICO (population/intervention/comparator/outcomes) questions. A Literature Review Team performed a systematic literature review to summarize evidence supporting the benefits and harms of available pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic therapies for PsA. GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation) methodology was used to rate the quality of the evidence. A voting panel, including rheumatologists, dermatologists, other health professionals, and patients, achieved consensus on the direction and the strength of the recommendations. RESULTS: The guideline covers the management of active PsA in patients who are treatment-naive and those who continue to have active PsA despite treatment, and addresses the use of oral small molecules, tumor necrosis factor inhibitors, interleukin-12/23 inhibitors (IL-12/23i), IL-17 inhibitors, CTLA4-Ig (abatacept), and a JAK inhibitor (tofacitinib). We also developed recommendations for psoriatic spondylitis, predominant enthesitis, and treatment in the presence of concomitant inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, or serious infections. We formulated recommendations for a treat-to-target strategy, vaccinations, and nonpharmacologic therapies. Six percent of the recommendations were strong and 94% conditional, indicating the importance of active discussion between the health care provider and the patient to choose the optimal treatment. CONCLUSION: The 2018 ACR/NPF PsA guideline serves as a tool for health care providers and patients in the selection of appropriate therapy in common clinical scenarios. Best treatment decisions consider each individual patient situation. The guideline is not meant to be proscriptive and should not be used to limit treatment options for patients with PsA.

Special Article: 2018 American College of Rheumatology/National Psoriasis Foundation Guideline for the Treatment of Psoriatic Arthritis.

OBJECTIVE: To develop an evidence-based guideline for the pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatment of psoriatic arthritis (PsA), as a collaboration between the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and the National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF). METHODS: We identified critical outcomes in PsA and clinically relevant PICO (population/intervention/comparator/outcomes) questions. A Literature Review Team performed a systematic literature review to summarize evidence supporting the benefits and harms of available pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic therapies for PsA. GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation) methodology was used to rate the quality of the evidence. A voting panel, including rheumatologists, dermatologists, other health professionals, and patients, achieved consensus on the direction and the strength of the recommendations. RESULTS: The guideline covers the management of active PsA in patients who are treatment-naive and those who continue to have active PsA despite treatment, and addresses the use of oral small molecules, tumor necrosis factor inhibitors, interleukin-12/23 inhibitors (IL-12/23i), IL-17 inhibitors, CTLA4-Ig (abatacept), and a JAK inhibitor (tofacitinib). We also developed recommendations for psoriatic spondylitis, predominant enthesitis, and treatment in the presence of concomitant inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, or serious infections. We formulated recommendations for a treat-to-target strategy, vaccinations, and nonpharmacologic therapies. Six percent of the recommendations were strong and 94% conditional, indicating the importance of active discussion between the health care provider and the patient to choose the optimal treatment. CONCLUSION: The 2018 ACR/NPF PsA guideline serves as a tool for health care providers and patients in the selection of appropriate therapy in common clinical scenarios. Best treatment decisions consider each individual patient situation. The guideline is not meant to be proscriptive and should not be used to limit treatment options for patients with PsA.

Rheumatology Research Foundation Clinician Scholar Educator Award: Fifteen Years Promoting Rheumatology Educators and Education.

OBJECTIVE: The Rheumatology Research Foundation's Clinician Scholar Educator (CSE) award is a 3-year career development award supporting medical education research while providing opportunities for mentorship and collaboration. Our objective was to document the individual and institutional impact of the award since its inception, as well as its promise to strengthen the subspecialty of rheumatology. METHODS: All 60 CSE Award recipients were surveyed periodically. Fifty-six of those 60 awardees (90%) responded to requests for survey information that included post-award activities, promotions, and further funding. Data were also collected from yearly written progress reports for each grant. RESULTS: Of the total CSE recipients to date, 48 of 60 (80%) are adult rheumatologists, 11 of 60 (18%) are pediatric rheumatologists, and 1 is an adult and pediatric rheumatologist. Two-thirds of survey respondents spend up to 30% of their total time in educational activities, and one-third spend greater than 30%. Thirty-one of the 60 CSE recipients (52%) have published a total of 86 medical education papers. Twenty-six of 52 (50%) had received an academic promotion following the award. Eleven awardees earned advanced degrees. CONCLUSION: We describe the creation and evolution of a grant program from a medical subspecialty society foundation and the impact on producing education research, individual identity formation, and ongoing support for educators. This community of rheumatology scholar educators now serves as an important resource at the national level for the American College of Rheumatology and its membership. We believe that this grant may serve as a model for other medical societies that want to promote education scholarship and leadership within their specialties.

Limited educational attainment and radiographic and symptomatic knee osteoarthritis: a cross-sectional analysis using data from the Johnston County (North Carolina) Osteoarthritis Project.

INTRODUCTION: Applying a cross-sectional analysis to a sample of 2,627 African-American and Caucasian adults aged > or = 45 years from the Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project, we studied the association between educational attainment and prevalence of radiographic knee osteoarthritis and symptomatic knee osteoarthritis. METHODS: Age- and race-adjusted associations between education and osteoarthritis outcomes were assessed by gender-stratified logistic regression models, with additional models adjusting for body mass index, knee injury, smoking, alcohol use, and occupational factors. RESULTS: In an analysis of all participants, low educational attainment (<12 years) was associated with higher prevalence of four knee osteoarthritis outcomes (unilateral and bilateral radiographic and symptomatic osteoarthritis). Women with low educational attainment had 50% higher odds of having radiographic knee osteoarthritis and 65% higher odds of symptomatic knee osteoarthritis compared with those with higher educational attainment (> or = 12 years), by using fully adjusted models. In the subset of postmenopausal women, these associations tended to be weaker but little affected by adjustment for hormone replacement therapy. Men with low educational attainment had 85% higher odds of having symptomatic knee osteoarthritis by using fully adjusted models, but the association with radiographic knee osteoarthritis was explained by age. CONCLUSIONS: After adjustment for known risk factors, educational attainment, as an indicator of socioeconomic status, is associated with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis in both men and women and with radiographic knee osteoarthritis in women.