After exclusion of the studies not fulfilling our inclusion criteria four studies were finally analyzed. The total number of RA patients included in these studies was

4896. Statins were associated with reduced CV events and mortality in RA in primary prevention but not in secondary prevention. In secondary prevention after myocardial infarction (MI) there was no statistically significant difference between RA or non-RA patients either receiving atorvastatin 80 mg or simvastatin 20–40 mg daily. Treatment with atorvastatin 80 mg led to a reduction in overall risk of CV disease in both patients with and without inflammatory joint disease compared to patients receiving the conventional/low-dose statin treatment. Statin discontinuation in RA patients was associated with an increased risk of acute myocardial infarction or CV mortality. Myalgia, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and selleck screening library nausea may be more frequent in RA patients than in controls. The published evidence shows that in RA patients statin treatment appears to reduce CV risk in primary prevention and that statin discontinuation is associated with an increased risk for CV events. However, the significance of statin treatment in RA patients still remains unclear as only very little evidence has been published. Whether all RA patients would benefit from treatment with statins still needs to be investigated.

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“To report the indications and safety of biologic Selleckchem E7080 agents in

childhood rheumatic diseases at a tertiary hospital. Children with rheumatic diseases treated with biologic agents at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from January 2001 mafosfamide to December 2011 were included. All patients were reviewed for: demographic characteristics, diagnosis, concomitant treatment and indications of using biologic agents, age at start of therapy and side effects during the treatment period. In all, 134 children (89 female) with various rheumatic diseases were treated with biologic agents. Mean age at starting biologic treatment was 9.3 (4.25–14) years and mean therapy duration was 14.7 (3–88) months. Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) was the most frequent diagnosis (70.1%) followed by systemic lupus erythematosus (12.7%) and vasculitis (4.5%). All patients received concomitant therapy (corticosteroids and disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs). In total, 273 treatments with biologic agents were used, (95 etanercept, 52 rituximab, 47 adalimumab, 37 infliximab, 23 anakinra, 10 tocilizumab and nine abatacept). Therapy was switched to another agent in 57 (42.5%) patients, mainly because of inefficacy (89.4%) or adverse event (10.6%). A total of 95 (34.8%) adverse events were notified; of these, the most frequent were infusion-related reactions (33.7%) followed by infections (24.2%) and autoantibody positivity (10.6%). One patient developed macrophage activation syndrome.