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We followed with great interest the numerous reports published by the Annals 1–9 as regards the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on different rheumatic autoimmune systemic diseases (ASD), including the survey study by Costa et al 9 that underlined the usefulness of telerheumatology in the management of patients with psoriatic arthritis in COVID-19 era. On the same topic, the world literature encompasses a large number of anecdotal observations, cohort studies and telephone surveys.1–15 Overall, the observed prevalence of symptomatic COVID-19, usually as mild-moderate disease, in patients with chronic arthritis was comparable to that found in the general population, while worse outcomes represented almost rare events.1–15 Conversely, increased percentages of symptomatic COVID-19 were observed in patient cohorts with connective tissue diseases, especially systemic lupus or systemic vasculitis.6 7 Of note, in ASD complicated by COVID-19, the baseline use of immune modifiers, namely, conventional synthetic (csDMARD), biological (bDMARD) and targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (tsDMARD), was not associated with worse COVID-19 disease outcomes.3–5 9 10 Almost invariably these monocentre studies focused on ASD patients’ populations from limited geographical areas.1–15 Given the heterogeneous distribution of pandemic infection within the same country, we investigated the impact of COVID-19 in ASD patients’ populations from three distinct regions of Italy (northern, Emilia Romagna; central, Tuscany; and southern, Calabria), characterised by different spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, prevalent in northern Italy with a marked gradient north-south.16 Our 6-week multicentre telephone survey of 1641 unselected patients with ASD confirmed the quite benign clinical course of COVID-19 in ASD, along with the safety of baseline use of either …

Following publication of the original article [1], it was brought to our attention that the AOSD Consensus Group was incorrectly tagged and therefore not searchable. The publishers apologize for this error.

In psoriatic arthritis (PsA), ultrasonography (US) plays a growing role in the differential diagnosis and in monitoring treatment response.1 PsA is a heterogeneous disease with different domains and peculiar sites involved.2 Therefore, a dedicated US composite score is needed to monitor disease activity and to identify structural damage progression. A recently published Systematic Literature Review (SLR) identified only two US scores specifically developed for PsA (ie, 5TPD and PsA-Son) and, although these had a good sensitivity to detect inflammation and a good feasibility, they have not been validated in other series.1 3 4 Recently, the Study Group for US of the Italian Society of Rheumatology promoted the Ultrasound in PSoriatic Arthritis TREAtMent (UPSTREAM) study (registered at ClinicalTrial.gov, NCT03330769). UPSTREAM is a multicentre observational prospective cohort study and it represents the first …

Background. The association of systemic sclerosis (SSc) and haematological cancers was reported in a large number of case reports and cohort studies, describing SSc patients with highly heterogeneous clinical pictures. Objective. We reviewed the literature to better describe SSc patients with haematological malignancies. Methods. SSc cases complicated by haematological malignancies described in the world literature were collected; other 2 cases referred to our centre were reported. Results. One hundred-thirty SSc subjects were collected from 1954 up to date. The mean age of patients at cancer diagnosis was 56.1 ± 16.7 years; 72% of patients were females. In 60% of cases, the diagnosis of haematological malignancy was described within 5 years of SSc diagnosis. In 7.8% of cases, coexistence of Sjögren’s syndrome or other autoimmune disorders was cited. Sixty-six cases with lymphoma (in the majority of cases B-cell neoplasms), 28 with leukaemia (chronic lymphocytic form in 9), 14 with multiple myeloma plus one solitary IgM plasmocytoma, and 16 with myeloproliferative disorders were found. No specific SSc subsets seem to be related to haematological malignancies. Conclusions. We remarked the importance of clinical work-up in SSc, in order to early diagnose and treat eventual occult haematological malignancies, especially during the first years of the disease.

Introduzione. Le interstiziopatie polmonari rappresentano un ampio gruppo di malattie che causano fibrosi o infiammazione del parenchima polmonare. Le principali forme sono quelle secondarie ad esposizione ambientale, fibrosi polmonari idiopatiche, polmoniti interstiziali non specifiche (NSIP), forme secondarie a sarcoidosi e quelle secondarie alle connettiviti. Quando per qualche motivo (limiti diagnostici, fattori confondenti, quadri atipici, ecc.) non è possibile classificare un’interstiziopatia nei sottotipi soprariportati, questa viene definita come non classificabile (U-ILD). Le connettiviti indifferenziate (UCTD) sono malattie sistemiche caratterizzate da caratteristiche cliniche e sierologiche tipiche di altre connettiviti definite ma che non ne soddisfano i criteri classificativi esistenti. Il coinvolgimento polmonare è raramente descritto in pazienti affetti da UCTD e non è solitamente considerato a fini diagnostici e classificativi come possibile manifestazione d’esordio. Recentemente alcuni autori hanno suggerito che alcune interstiziopatie non classificabili potrebbero essere meglio inquadrate come secondarie a connettiviti. Nella pratica clinica, soprattutto quando il quadro respiratorio sembra essere il sintomo d’esordio della patologia, la diagnosi differenziale può essere estremamente complessa, eppure di sostanziale importanza alla luce delle implicazioni terapeutiche. Scopo dello studio. Individuare le caratteristiche cliniche e sierologiche che distinguono le U-ILD dalle interstiziopatie secondarie ad UCTD (UCTD-ILD) per migliorare la diagnosi differenziale e individuare pazienti candidati a terapia immunosoppressiva. Metodi. Fra settembre 2011 a novembre 2014, 50 pazienti valutati presso il nostro centro venivano classificati come affetti da UCTD o U-ILD, dopo discussione interdisciplinare, secondo i criteri presenti in letteratura. Il quadro radiologico rilevato alla TC ad alta risoluzione veniva classificato come usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) definito, possibile o non compatibile, secondo i criteri classificativi della fibrosi polmonare idiopatica. Risultati. Le principali caratteristiche dei pazienti sono riportate nella tabella. Il fenomeno di Raynaud, la xeroftalmia e la positività dell’ANA test risultavano più frequenti nei pazienti con UCTD (rispettivamente p=0.27, p=0-07, p=0.2). Un pattern radiologico non compatibile con UIP veniva rilevato in circa il 70% dei pazienti con UCTD. Un modello predittivo basato su fenomeno di Raynaud, xeroftalmia, positività dell’ANA test mostrava un valore predittivo dell’85,7% (le UCTD venivano classificate nel 90,5% e le U-ILD nel 78,6%). Conclusioni. Il coinvolgimento polmonare è una possibile manifestazione d’esordio delle UCTD. La diagnosi differenziale con le U-ILD può essere problematica ma è assolutamente necessaria per le conseguenti implicazioni nell’approccio terapeutico. A questo scopo, un’attenta valutazione di alcune caratteristiche cliniche e sierologiche può essere di aiuto. Un lavoro in team multidisciplinare che includa reumatologo, pneumologo, radiologo, anatomo-patologo rappresenta l’approccio migliore al paziente con interstiziopatia polmonare da definire.