Rheumatology Update

6 of the best bits from the ARA annual conference

Clare Pain

1 June 2017

The Australian Rheumatology Association held its annual conference in New Zealand this year, with more than 600 delegates convergingin Auckland for a smorgasbord of rheumatological delights.

Eminent rheumatologists from overseas included Professor Arthur Kavanaugh of the University of California, San Diego, USA and Professor Georg Schett of University Hospital, Erlangen in Germany. Professor Schett made his complex research in basic science easily approachable to the busy physician.

Some of the most useful sessions were those given by experts in other specialities, one attendee told Rheumatology Update. Professors Edward Gane, Keith Petrie and Jill Cornish tailored their talks on hepatology, health psychology and endocrinology to be of practical use to rheumatology clinicians.

Here is a taste of some of the research papers presented:

  • Although high dose fish oil supplementation has been shown to have benefits in early rheumatoid arthritis, including reducing triple therapy failure and increasing remission rates, it brought no benefit for bone mineral density in a three-year clinical trial of patients with RA, reported a group led by Dr Susanna Proudman of the University of Adelaide.
  • Dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) may have an increasing role to play in the assessment of gout, said a group led by Professor Nicola Dalbeth of the University of Auckland, who was also the conference convener. Concordance of DECT with anatomical pathology for urate deposition, tophus and bone erosion was “excellent” they said.
  • A team led by Professor Rachelle Buchbinder of Monash University,reported evidence of an increased risk of lung cancer in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. “RA or the drugs used to treat it may increase malignancy risk”, they said.
  • About a quarter of patients with rheumatoid arthritis on Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) still complain of pain although they have had a good objective response.Rather than increasing their DMARD doses, this group might be better targeted with therapy aimed at pain mechanisms, said the authors led by Professor Catherine Hill of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide.
  • Smoking is associated with higher disease activity in axial spondyloarthritis, and patients should be encouraged to quit, reported a group led by Dr J Highton of the University of Otago.
  • And finally, use of a fibromyalgia severity scale could be helpful in diagnosis, with those scoring higher than 12 being classed as having the condition, reported a small team led by Professor Geoffrey Littlejohn of Monash University.

More information:

NZARA and ARA Abstracts

Author:

Clare Pain

Clinical Reporter

Clare Pain combines freelancing as a science and medical writer with working as a medical journalist on Medical Observer'ssisterSpecialist Update titles.She has written for many outlets including New Scientist, Cosmos, and the ABC. Her work was selected to appear in Australia’s Best Science Writing 2015.