Objective: To provide guidance for the management of gout, including indications for and optimal use of urate‐lowering therapy (ULT), treatment of gout flares, and lifestyle and other medication recommendations.Methods: Fifty‐seven population, intervention, comparator, and outcomes questions were developed, followed by a systematic literature review, including network meta‐analyses with ratings of the available evidence according to the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology, and patient input. A group consensus process was used to compose the final recommendations and grade their strength as strong or conditional.Results: Forty‐two recommendations (including 16 strong recommendations) were generated. Strong recommendations included initiation of ULT for all patients with tophaceous gout, radiographic damage due to gout, or frequent gout flares; allopurinol as the preferred first‐line ULT, including for those with moderate‐to‐severe chronic kidney disease (CKD; stage >3); using a low starting dose of allopurinol (≤100 mg/day, and lower in CKD) or febuxostat (<40 mg/day); and a treat‐to‐target management strategy with ULT dose titration guided by serial serum urate (SU) measurements, with an SU target of <6 mg/dl. When initiating ULT, concomitant antiinflammatory prophylaxis therapy for a duration of at least 3–6 months was strongly recommended. For management of gout flares, colchicine, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, or glucocorticoids (oral, intraarticular, or intramuscular) were strongly recommended.Conclusion: Using GRADE methodology and informed by a consensus process based on evidence from the current literature and patient preferences, this guideline provides direction for clinicians and patients making decisions on the management of gout.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by excess morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease. Mechanisms linking rheumatoid arthritis and cardiovascular disease include shared inflammatory mediators, post-translational modifications of peptides/proteins and subsequent immune responses, alterations in the composition and function of lipoproteins, increased oxidative stress, and endothelial dysfunction. Despite a growing understanding of these mechanisms and their complex interplay with conventional cardiovascular risk factors, optimal approaches of risk stratification, prevention, and treatment in the context of rheumatoid arthritis remain unknown. A multifaceted approach to reduce the burden posed by cardiovascular disease requires optimal management of traditional risk factors in addition to those intrinsic to rheumatoid arthritis such as increased disease activity. Treatments for rheumatoid arthritis seem to exert differential effects on cardiovascular risk as well as the mechanisms linking these conditions. More research is needed to establish whether preferential rheumatoid arthritis therapies exist in terms of prevention of cardiovascular disease. Ultimately, understanding the unique mechanisms for cardiovascular disease in rheumatoid arthritis will aid in risk stratification and the identification of novel targets for meaningful reduction of cardiovascular risk in this patient population.

Objective: To provide guidance for the management of gout, including indications for and optimal use of urate‐lowering therapy (ULT), treatment of gout flares, and lifestyle and other medication recommendations.Methods: Fifty‐seven population, intervention, comparator, and outcomes questions were developed, followed by a systematic literature review, including network meta‐analyses with ratings of the available evidence according to the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology, and patient input. A group consensus process was used to compose the final recommendations and grade their strength as strong or conditional.Results: Forty‐two recommendations (including 16 strong recommendations) were generated. Strong recommendations included initiation of ULT for all patients with tophaceous gout, radiographic damage due to gout, or frequent gout flares; allopurinol as the preferred first‐line ULT, including for those with moderate‐to‐severe chronic kidney disease (CKD; stage >3); using a low starting dose of allopurinol (≤100 mg/day, and lower in CKD) or febuxostat (<40 mg/day); and a treat‐to‐target management strategy with ULT dose titration guided by serial serum urate (SU) measurements, with an SU target of <6 mg/dl. When initiating ULT, concomitant antiinflammatory prophylaxis therapy for a duration of at least 3–6 months was strongly recommended. For management of gout flares, colchicine, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, or glucocorticoids (oral, intraarticular, or intramuscular) were strongly recommended.Conclusion: Using GRADE methodology and informed by a consensus process based on evidence from the current literature and patient preferences, this guideline provides direction for clinicians and patients making decisions on the management of gout.

Objective: To examine the degree to which shared risk factors explain the relationship of periodontitis (PD) to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to determine the associations of PD and Porphyromonas gingivalis with pathologic and clinical features of RA.Methods: Patients with RA (n = 287) and patients with osteoarthritis as disease controls (n = 330) underwent a standardized periodontal examination. The HLA–DRB1 status of all participants was imputed using single‐nucleotide polymorphisms from the extended major histocompatibility complex. Circulating anti–P gingivalis antibodies were measured using an enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay, and subgingival plaque was assessed for the presence of P gingivalis using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Associations of PD with RA were examined using multivariable regression.Results: Presence of PD was more common in patients with RA and patients with anti–citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA)–positive RA (n = 240; determined using the anti–cyclic citrullinated peptide 2 [anti–CCP‐2] test) than in controls (35% and 37%, respectively, versus 26%; P = 0.022 and P = 0.006, respectively). There were no differences between RA patients and controls in the levels of anti–P gingivalis or the frequency of P gingivalis positivity by PCR. The anti–P gingivalis findings showed a weak, but statistically significant, association with the findings for both anti–CCP‐2 (r = 0.14, P = 0.022) and rheumatoid factor (RF) (r = 0.19, P = 0.001). Presence of PD was associated with increased swollen joint counts (P = 0.004), greater disease activity according to the 28‐joint Disease Activity Score using C‐reactive protein level (P = 0.045), and higher total Sharp scores of radiographic damage (P = 0.015), as well as with the presence and levels of anti–CCP‐2 (P = 0.011) and RF (P < 0.001). The expression levels of select ACPAs (including antibodies to citrullinated filaggrin) were higher in patients with subgingival P gingivalis and in those with higher levels of anti–P gingivalis antibodies, irrespective of smoking status. Associations of PD with established seropositive RA were independent of all covariates examined, including evidence of P gingivalis infection.Conclusion: Both PD and P gingivalis appear to shape the autoreactivity of RA. In addition, these results demonstrate an independent relationship between PD and established seropositive RA.

Objective: To provide updated American College of Rheumatology (ACR) recommendations on rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity measurements to facilitate a treat‐to‐target approach in routine clinical care.Methods: A working group conducted a systematic literature review from the time of the prior ACR recommendations literature search. Properties of disease activity measures were abstracted, and study quality was assessed using the Consensus‐Based Standards for the selection of Health Measurement Instruments 4‐point scoring method, allowing for overall level of evidence assessment. Measures that fulfilled a minimum standard were identified, and through a modified Delphi process preferred measures were selected for regular use in most clinic settings.Results: The search identified 5,199 articles, of which 110 were included in the review. This search identified 46 RA disease activity measures that contained patient, provider, laboratory, and/or imaging data. Descriptions of the measures, properties, study quality, level of evidence, and feasibility were abstracted and scored. Following a modified Delphi process, 11 measures fulfilled a minimum standard for regular use in most clinic settings, and 5 measures were recommended: the Disease Activity Score in 28 Joints with Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate or C‐Reactive Protein Level, Clinical Disease Activity Index, Simplified Disease Activity Index, Routine Assessment of Patient Index Data 3, and Patient Activity Scale‐II.Conclusion: We have updated prior ACR recommendations for preferred RA disease activity measures, identifying 11 measures that met a minimum standard for regular use and 5 measures that were preferred for regular use in most clinic settings.