Sjögren’s disease (SjD) is a multifaceted, systemic autoimmune disease with substantial clinical heterogeneity. The objective of this study was to conduct a qualitative expert opinion exercise to explore how SjD is assessed, evaluated and managed in international clinical practice.

Glucocorticoid pulse therapy is commonly prescribed by rheumatologists worldwide for a wide variety of serious and potentially life-threatening diseases. Pulse therapy also has the potential to lower the cumulative glucocorticoid burden, which has already been proven in systemic lupus erythematosus and giant cell arteritis. The standard practice in rheumatology is to administer this therapy intravenously, but current literature suggests that oral methylprednisolone is a non-inferior option for clinical outcomes and safety. Integrating oral methylprednisolone pulse therapy into rheumatological practice might have considerable benefits, not only for patients but also for society as a whole. In this Viewpoint, we provide a review of oral methylprednisolone pulse therapy covering pharmacology, safety, patient preference, sustainability, and its possible use in rheumatology practice. We aim to increase awareness among rheumatologists of the potential use of oral glucocorticoid pulse therapy as this modest change in clinical practice has major benefits.

Cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) imposes a significant burden on patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and adversely impacts their health.

The interplay between the gut microbiome (GM), plasma metabolites and systemic sclerosis (SSc) has not been systematically studied. We hypothesized that disruption at the GM-metabolome interface contributes to the pathogenesis of SSc. This study aims to investigate the faecal microbiome composition and plasma metabolite profiles in SSc patients.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) frequently have complications including chronic lung diseases (CLDs) consisting of airway disease (AD) or interstitial lung disease (ILD) that confer a poor prognosis. Peripheral blood leukocyte telomere length is shortened in RA with ILD. Previous studies reported rare variants in telomerase genes that were deleterious were more frequent in RA with ILD compared with controls. However, these studies were conducted in European populations. Here, we investigated associations of telomere length with ILD or AD in Japanese RA.

Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and giant cell arteritis (GCA) are closely related chronic inflammatory diseases in which macrophages play a central role in the pathogenesis. This study compared macrophage-related immune profiles in subacromial bursal tissues affected by PMR and temporal arteries affected by GCA to identify shared therapeutic targets.

The study was designed to obtain a preliminary assessment of the safety and efficacy of SGX945 (dusquetide) for the treatment of aphthous oral and genital ulcers in Behçet's syndrome.

To assess real-world outcomes of anifrolumab (ANI) in refractory systemic DM.

To assess the relationship between disease duration and the prevalence/distribution of nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC) patterns, named according to the current classification as 'early', 'active' and 'late', in a large cohort of systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients.

Diffuse alveolar haemorrhage (DAH) is a rare and poorly understood manifestation of antiphospholipid (AP) syndrome (APS). This study describes the clinical presentation, treatment and prognosis of DAH in APS with or without catastrophic APS (CAPS).