Glenn Haugeberg

• MD, PhD
• Consultant at Sørlandet Hospital

Introduction Comorbidities are frequently present in patients with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) and may contribute to poorer health-related outcomes. Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) serve as tools to assess the patient’s perspective on the burden of the disease. The study aimed to evaluating the impact of comorbidities on selected PROs in axSpA...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) significantly impact patients’ ability to work. This cross-sectional study investigated work productivity measured by the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment (WPAI) questionnaire in a real-world cohort of Polish patients with RA, PsA, and axSpA, and asse...

Aims The incidence of periprosthetic fractures is increasing and, in 2023, was the main reason for revision arthroplasty in Norway. Some studies indicate that the surgical approach affects periprosthetic bone density and possibly could influence fracture risk. The SPAIRE (sparing piriformis and obturator internus, repairing externus) approach is ga...

Introduction: The relationship between the phenotype and treatment of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and the increased prevalence of cardiovascular comorbidities is not well studied. Objective: To assess the prevalence of cardiovascular comorbidities in relation to the clinical phenotype and treatment of PsA. Methods: This was a cross-sectional, re...

Management of comorbidities is essential to a patient-centered approach to the treatment of chronic inflammatory arthritis. The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of comorbidities and their risk factors in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) in a single center outpatient cohort. Thi...

Objective The relationship between the surgical approach used for hemiarthroplasty and periprosthetic bone mineral density (BMD) is not well understood. We have previously described a decrease in BMD 1 year postoperatively. Here, we assessed the medium-term changes in periprosthetic BMD. Methods We performed a follow-up study of patients with femo...

Background Comorbidities are frequent in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and may contribute to worse health-related outcomes. Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are used to evaluate the burden of the assessed disease. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of comorbidities on selected PROs in PsA. Methods Adult patients, diagnosed with PsA, based...

Spondyloarthritis (SpA) is a group of inflammatory disorders, including axial SpA (axSpA), characterized by inflammation in the spine and sacroiliac joints. Healthcare professionals have a crucial role in diagnosing and managing axSpA. Assessing their knowledge, perceptions, and practices is essential to enhance patient care. The objective of this...

Background Depression, a common comorbidity in inflammatory arthritis, exacerbates disease activity, diminishes quality of life, and hampers assessment of treatment response. Prevalence data for depression in spondyloarthritis (SpA) vary widely, highlighting the challenges in detecting this comorbidity. Reported prevalence rates range from 0.8% to...

Background Concomitant depressive disorders are increasingly recognised as a risk factor for worse disease activity and other outcomes in many diseases including rheumatoid arthritis (RA)¹. Approximately 16.8% of RA patients are affected by depression, a condition often overlooked in routine rheumatologic practice.2,3 Low mood (LM), distinct from c...

Objective We aim to compare drug effectiveness and persistence between the reference etanercept (ETN) and ETN biosimilar SB4 in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) naive to ETN and to investigate drug effectiveness and persistence in those undergoing a mandatory nonmedical switch from ETN to SB4. Methods We used a retrospective comparative dat...

Objective Randomized controlled trials are considered the gold standard in study methodology. However, due to their study design and inclusion criteria, these studies may not capture the heterogeneity of real-world patient populations. In contrast, the lack of randomization and the presence of both measured and unmeasured confounding factors could...

Pain is a crucial factor in rheumatic disorders, and reducing it is a primary goal of successful treatment. Adaptive pain-coping strategies can enhance this improvement, but maladaptive approaches such as pain catastrophizing may worsen overall patient well-being. This narrative review aims to provide a concise overview of the existing knowledge on...

Introduction Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is the most common vasculitis of the elderly. In recent years, advanced imaging has to a certain extent replaced temporal artery biopsy (TAB) to aid diagnosis in many institutions and helped to identify three major phenotypes of GCA, namely, cranial GCA (c-GCA), large-vessel non-cranial GCA (LV-GCA), and a co...

Background Biologic and targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (b/tsDMARDs) are highly effective in treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA), albeit high drug cost has restricted their use in many countries. As a countermeasure, Norway implemented pharmaceutical tendering as a cost-reducing strategy. The aim of this study was to assess...

Objective: This study aimed to explore long-term changes in disease activity and remission rates, and potential sex-related differences in these outcomes, in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients treated in an outpatient clinic. Method: This prospective longitudinal cohort study included 114 patients. The Disease Activity Index for Psoriatic Arthri...

Background Axial spondyloarthritis (ax-SpA) causes pain, fatigue, stiffness, loss of physical function, and poor health status, which can influence sexual activity and enjoyment. Aims To explore whether patients with ax-SpA perceive that their health status affects their sexual activity and to identify predictors of these perceived effects on sexu...

Background Axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the axial skeleton and may involve peripheral joints, entheses and other organs, which may cause pain, fatigue, stiffness, loss of physical function. The persons health status may influence on sexual activity and enjoyment. Sexual activity is one of the key functions i...

Background Randomized controlled trials showed high comparability of biosimilar rituximab (bs-RTX) GP2013 to biologic originator RTX (bo-RTX) in terms of physicochemical and functional properties, pharmacokinetics, efficacy and safety [1,2]. Data on effectiveness of switching from bo-RTX to bs-RTX, starting therapy with bs-RTX and bs-RTX drug survi...

Background Improvement of pharmacological therapies and treatment approaches in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) have led to substantial progress in disease outcomes [1]. Despite this progress there is still a need for improvement in PsA treatment [2]. Objectives To explore long-term (5 years) changes in disease activity, remission rates and sex-related...

Pericarditis is an important differential diagnosis in patients with chest pain. The two most common causes in the developed world are idiopathic pericarditis and inflammation following cardiac surgery or myocardial infarction. Recurrence of pericarditis affects up to 30 % of patients, half of whom experience multiple episodes, and approximately 10...

Randomized controlled trials showed high comparability of biosimilar rituximab (bs-RTX) GP2013 to biologic originator RTX (bo-RTX). Data on effectiveness of switching from bo-RTX to bs-RTX, starting therapy with bs-RTX, and bs-RTX drug survival in real-world setting are sparse. To explore long-term drug effectiveness and survival of bs-RTX GP2013 i...

Objective Biosimilars represent cost‐effective alternatives to reference biologic disease‐modifying antirheumatic drugs. Our objective was to compare drug effectiveness and drug persistence in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), assessing the etanercept biosimilar SB4 in efficacy and safety compared with reference etanercept in a Phase III,...

Pain catastrophizing is a maladaptive mechanism associated with the exaggerated experience of pain, increased rumination and feelings of helplessness. The main objective of this study was to explore whether increased pain catastrophizing is independently associated with a lower proportion of low disease activity (LDA) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA),...

Introduction: The inclusion of certain variables in remission formulas for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may give rise to discrepancies. An increase in patient global assessment (PGA), a variable showing the patient's self-evaluation of their disease activity, may alone tilt a patient out of remission when using certain remission-assessing methods. Th...

Introduction: We aimed to compare demographics and clinical characteristics between patients with inflammatory arthritis (IA) with vs. without neutralizing anti-drug antibodies (nADAb) against tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi). A secondary aim of the study was to explore if current smokers were more frequently nADAb-positive. Methods: TNFi...

Objective Knowledge is needed on the total disease burden across the sexes in inflammatory arthritis (IA). We aimed to compare disease burden, including a broad range of health aspects, across men and women with IA treated with tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi). Methods Adult outpatients with IA (rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis,...

Pain catastrophizing (PC), defined as tendency to describe pain in more exaggerated terms, to ruminate more or to feel helpless about it. Main objective was to illuminate PC in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), revealing its prevalence and associations from a biopsychosocial perspective, inclu...

Dear Editor, We thank Quick et al. for the very valuable comments on our article ‘Diagnosing giant cell arteritis: a comprehensive practical guide for the practicing rheumatologist’ [1]. There is, as Quick et al. rightly point out, no uniform definition of fast-track clinic in GCA [1]. However, existing evidence, as well as American and European gu...

Background In Norway, an annual tender system for the prescription of biologic and targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (b/tsDMARDs) has been used since 2007. This study aimed to explore annual b/tsDMARDs costs and disease outcomes in Norwegian rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients between 2010 and 2019 under the influence of the t...

A growing population of older adults and improved effective treatments for inflammatory rheumatic diseases will increase the demand for more healthcare resources that already struggle with staggering outpatient clinic waiting times. Transformative delivery care models that provide sustainable healthcare services are urgently needed to meet these ch...

BACKGROUND: In Norway, an annual tender system for the prescription of biologic and targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (b/tsDMARDs) has been used since 2007. This study aimed to explore annual b/tsDMARDs costs and disease outcomes in Norwegian rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients between 2010 and 2019 under the influence of the...

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is the most common large vessel vasculitis in the elderly population. In recent years, advanced imaging has changed the way GCA can be diagnosed in many locations. The GCA fast-track clinic (FTC) approach combined with ultrasound (US) examination allows prompt treatment and diagnosis with high certainty. FTCs have been sh...

Background Data addressing whether patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) are at increased risk of osteoporosis have been inconclusive (1). Most studies have reported cross sectional data, and there is a lack of longer-term studies. We have previously reported bone density data from an outpatient PsA clinic cohort (2). Herein, we present 5-year fo...

Background Enthesitis is defined as inflammation of the tendon inserting the bone encompassing the adjacent trabecular bone network, the fascia and surrounding soft tissues as the cartilage, the bursa and the fat pad. In enthesitis clinical examination alone is a method with significant limitations in terms of diagnostic accuracy and does not corre...

Background Pericarditis is a common disease with significant morbidity (1). Idiopathic pericarditis, where an underlying cause cannot be identified, makes up for 80% of cases in the Western World (1). Up to 30% of these patients experience recurrence despite optimal treatment (2). Idiopathic recurrent pericarditis (IRP) is thought to represent an a...

Background Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is the most common medium- and large vessel vasculitis in the elderly population. The diagnostic algorithm has changed in recent years in many institutions from temporal artery biopsy (TAB) to imaging based diagnosis (1). However, classification criteria that relied on TAB remained unchanged since 1990 (2). Ref...

Objective Southern Norway consists of a homogeneous population of nearly 300,000 inhabitants and is an ideal epidemiologic setting. We aimed to explore potential changes in incidence of giant cell arteritis (GCA) in Southern Norway from 2000–2013, with comparisons of previous reports from the same population cohort from 1987–1994 and 1992–1996, and...

Objective Adiposity is prevalent among patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA). However, the temporal relation is unclear. The present study was undertaken to investigate whether adiposity and body fat distribution are related to the risk of developing PsA, and whether physical activity could modify the possible risk. Methods We included 36,626 wo...

Objective To explore patient perception of sexual quality of life (SQOL), an important category of quality of life, in male and female patients with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) after a five-year follow-up. Methods A broad spectrum of demographic, disease-related, treatment and SQOL data was collected at baseline and at 5-year follow-up. SQOL w...

Objective Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) can have a significant impact on health‐related quality of life (HRQoL). Data on the timing of changes in the HRQoL of patients with PsA are limited. The present study was undertaken to explore associations between sleep disturbance, fatigue, pain, anxiety, depression, general health status, and satisfaction with...

Introduction: Sleep disturbances, fatigue, and anxiety/depression in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) may be influenced by skin and musculoskeletal manifestations. All of these in turn affect the psychosocial impact of disease. The objective was to explore the occurrence of sleep disturbances, fatigue, and anxiety/depression in psoriatic arthritis (PsA)...

Objective To examine the prevalence of self-reported problems with sexual activity among psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients, and to explore potential associations of such problems with various demographic, musculoskeletal, and dermatological disease variables. Method Consecutive PsA patients were recruited from an outpatient clinic. Data collected...

Background Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients have been reported to suffer from increased sleep disturbances (1) and fatigue (2). Sleep disturbances and fatigue in PsA may not only be influenced by skin and musculoskeletal manifestations, but also by psychosocial consequences of the disease and the patients’ mental status (3). Objectives To explor...

Background Pain catastrophizing (the tendency to describe a pain experience in more exaggerated terms than the average person, to ruminate on it more, or to feel more helpless about it), has been associated with reduced likelihood of achieving remission in rheumatoid arthritis patients (1). Cultural and societal differences between countries may ha...

Background In the last two decades ultrasound (US) has become a significant and valuable mode of diagnosing giant cell arteritis (GCA) in clinical practice (1). This is also reflected in the suggested expansion of the ACR 1990 criteria where imaging including US is equated with biopsy (2). Favorable sensitivity compared to biopsy has been shown and...

Background The ACR Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) criteria from 1990 includes items of clinical findings and biopsy results (1). Since that time better imaging modalities as ultrasound (US), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) have challenged the former gold standard status of biopsy diagnosing GCA (2). In 2017 sugge...

Background In psoriatic arthritis (PsA) both skin and musculoskeletal involvement can contribute to reduce health related quality of life (HRQoL) (1). Although itch is considered an important symptom in psoriasis, less is known about its extent and potential impact on HRQoL in PsA. Objectives The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of it...

Background In psoriatic arthritis (PsA), both psoriasis and musculoskeletal manifestations may impair Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL). Our objective was to explore the impact of the various disease manifestations and disease consequences, including psychosocial factors, on HRQoL in PsA patients treated in the biologic treatment era. Methods...

Background Axial spondyloarthritis (ax-SpA) causes pain, fatigue, stiffness, loss of physical function and impaired health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Aims The study aimed to explore the changes in HRQOL over 5 years in patients with ax-SpA and to identify baseline predictors associated with changes in HRQOL assessed using three HRQOL measure...

Background In the new millennium biologic therapies e.g. tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) have played a major role improving clinical outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and axial spondyloarthritis (ax-SpA). A major limitation in many countries for prescribing these drugs has been the high drug costs. The patent...

Background In Norway encouraged by the health authorities non-medical switch from reference drug to biosimilar drug has been performed in most patients on biologic reference drugs with biosimilar drugs available, including etanercept. There is a need for real life data understanding the effect of biosimilar drugs when these drugs are introduced in...

Background Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a heterogeneous disease involving multiple domains including the musculoskeletal system and the skin. The disease may have a significant impact on various aspects of quality of life including sexuality. Objectives To explore the prevalence of self-reported problems with sexual activity in patients with PsA,...

Objective To evaluate the impact of high‐intensity interval training (HIIT) on disease activity and disease perception in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and to evaluate whether a potential effect could be sustained for a longer period of time. Methods We randomly assigned 67 patients with PsA (43 women and 24 men) to an intervention group...

Objective To explore the relationship between demographic, disease related variables, treatment and sexual quality of life (SQOL) in men and women with Axial Spondyloarthritis (ax-SpA). Methods Ax-SpA patients were consecutively recruited from two rheumatology outpatient clinics in Sothern Norway. A broad specter of demographic, disease, treatment...

Objective The European League Against Rheumatism recommends implementing cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessments for patients with inflammatory joint diseases (IJDs) into clinical practice. Our goal was to design a structured programme for CVD risk assessments to be implemented into routine rheumatology outpatient clinic visits. Methods The...

Background Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is associated with an accumulation of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on CVD risk factors in patients with PsA. Methods We randomly assigned 61 patients with PsA (41 women and 20 men) to an intervention group...

Background: Over the last decade, a treat-to-target (T2T) strategy has been recommended for psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and new treatment options have become available. There is a lack of data on PsA regarding any changes that may have occurred over these past years. Thus, the main aim of this study was to look for changes in clinical disease status...

Objectives: Patients with inflammatory joint diseases (IJD) have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Our goal was to examine indications for, and use of, lipid-lowering therapy (LLT) and antihypertensive treatment (AntiHT) in patients with IJD. Furthermore, to investigate the frequency of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c)...

Objectives To compare (1) Short Form-36 (SF-36) Physical Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS), scale scores and Short Form-6 dimensions (SF-6D) between patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and Norwegian general population controls and (2) improvements in these measures between pat...

Background The risk of osteoporosis in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) still remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate bone mineral density (BMD) at the hip and lumbar spine measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in patients with PsA. Methods From an outpatient clinic in southern Norway, 140 patients with PsA were con...

Background In the new millennium remission has become an obtainable treatment goal for chronic inflammatory joint disorders, shown in particular for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This has been attributed to new treatment strategies (early intervention and treat-to-target) and new drugs e.g. biologic Disease Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs (bDMARDs).¹ F...

Background Only few longitudinal observational studies exist on the comparison of Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) between PsA and RA patients using the Medical Outcomes Survey Short Form-36 (SF-36), as well as with general population controls. Objectives The aims were 1) to explore if improvements in SF-36 scale scores differ between PsA an...

Background Norwegian rheumatologists are encouraged to prescribe the lowest-priced biologic DMARDs according to the national tender system. Thus, non-medical switch from the originator drug to its biosimilar is extensively performed. There is a need for more real life data to clarify the clinical outcomes, dropout rates and reasons for these dropou...

Objectives The aim of this population-based study was to compare changes in cardiovascular (CV) risk factors over a decade-long period in patients who developed psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and the background population. Methods Patients diagnosed with PsA (n=151) between 1998 and 2008 and matched controls (n=755) who participated in both the Nord-Tr...

Objective: The European guidelines on cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention advise use of relative risk and risk age algorithms for estimating CVD risk in patients with low estimated absolute risk. Patients with inflammatory joint diseases (IJD) are associated with increased risk of CVD. We aimed to estimate relative risk and risk age across IJD...

Personalised medicine, new discoveries and studies on rare exposures or outcomes require large samples that are increasingly difficult for any single investigator to obtain. Collaborative work is limited by heterogeneities, both what is being collected and how it is defined. To develop a core set for data collection in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) res...

Abstract Background Axial spondyloarthritis (ax-SpA) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the spine causing pain, stiffness, loss in physical function, and fatigue. Therefore, the physical and psychological burden of having this chronic disease can reduce the quality of life. We aimed to explore the relationship between demographic- and disease-rel...

Objective: To compare clinical and ultrasonographic (US) evaluation of Achilles enthesitis in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA). Methods: The Achilles insertion of outpatients with PsA was examined by clinical assessment of tenderness and US evaluation of (1) inflammatory activity (defined as the presence of power Doppler signal, tendon th...

Objective: To investigate the predictive value of baseline depression/anxiety on the likelihood of achieving joint remission in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) as well as the associations between baseline depression/anxiety and the components of the remission criteria at follow-up. Methods: We included 1326 patients with...

Background Patients with inflammatory joint diseases (IJD) have increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Our aim was to compare CVD risk profiles in patients with IJD, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and evaluate the future risk of CVD. Methods The prevalence and numbers of...

Background The risk of osteoporosis in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) remains unclear. The aim of this study was to compare bone mineral density (BMD) measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in patients with PsA and controls. Patients and methods Patients with PsA and controls were recruited from the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study...

Purpose: Resistance training is beneficial for maintaining bone mass. We aimed to investigate the skeletal effects of high doses of antioxidants [vitamin C + E (α-tocopherol)] supplementation during 12-week supervised strength training in healthy, elderly men METHODS: Design: double-blinded randomized placebo-controlled study. Participants followe...

Background Only few studies have compared health related quality of life (HRQoL) between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients. Objectives To compare the Medical Outcomes Survey Short Form-36 (SF-36) Physical Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS) in RA and PsA patients from a large prospective observ...

Background Depression and anxiety are reported to predict poorer treatment outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis (RA).¹ Whether this can be confirmed in larger prospective observational studies using various remission criteria remains to be explored. Objectives To investigate the predictive value of baseline depression/anxiety on the likelihood of achi...

Background Depression and anxiety are frequent comorbidities in psoriatic arthritis (PsA). Still, the potential influence of depression/anxiety on achievement of remission remains unexplored. Objectives To investigate the predictive value of baseline depression/anxiety on the likelihood of achieving remission in PsA, as well as the associations be...

Background Individuals with inflammatory joint diseases (IJD) [rheumatoid arthritis (RA), axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA)] have increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). In the European guidelines for CVD prevention, calculation of relative risk and risk age is advised in patients with low absolute risk of fatal...

Objective: To explore the relationship between demographic and disease-related variables and the perceived effect of health status on sexual activity in patients with axial spondyloarthritis (ax-SpA). Method: The study assessed 379 ax-SpA patients consecutively recruited from two rheumatology outpatient clinics. Data collection included informat...

Objective: To explore the burden of skin, joint, and entheses manifestations in a representative psoriatic arthritis (PsA) outpatient cohort in the biologic treatment era. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 141 PsA outpatients fulfilling the ClASsification for Psoriatic ARthritis (CASPAR) criteria and examined between January 2013 and...

Objectives: To explore patterns of real-world early RA (ERA) care across countries. Methods: An online survey was disseminated to practising rheumatologists across Europe and the US, also made accessible on social media between April and May 2015. Survey questions (n=38) assessed the structure and setting of ERA clinics, times to diagnosis and t...

Objective To investigate the predictive value of discordance between (1) tender and swollen joint count and (2) patient's and evaluator's global assessment on remission in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA). Methods From the prospective, multicentre Norwegian-Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drug study, we include...

Objective: To investigate whether osteoporosis or use of calcium supplementations predict all-cause mortality, or death from CVD, in a longitudinal cohort of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods: Patients in the Oslo RA register (ORAR) were examined, and bone mineral density was measured in 1996. The cohort was linked to the Norwegia...

Objective: We evaluated the predictive value of these vascular biomarkers for cardiovascular disease (CVD) events in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA): aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV), augmentation index (AIx), carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), and carotid plaques (CP). They are often used as risk markers for CVD. Methods: In 2007,...

Background Clinical examination may overestimate Achilles enthesitis. Ultrasonography (US) is a valuable tool for assessment of musculoskeletal inflammation including subclinical enthesitis. Objectives The aim of our study was to compare clinical and US evaluation of Achilles enthesitis in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA). Methods Patients...

Background Antihypertensives (antiHT) and lipid lowering therapies (LLT) prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD) effectively. It has been reported that patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) receive suboptimal CVD-prevention, possibly contributing to their increased CVD risk. Whether other inflammatory joint diseases (IJD), such as ankylosing spondyl...

Background Patients with inflammatory joint diseases (IJD) have a high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The EULAR recommendations for CVD risk management in patients with IJD states that CVD risk assessment should be considered annually in this patient population, and emphasizes that such assessment easily can be incorporated into a routine rh...

Background Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been shown to be at increased risk for other diseases, in particular for osteoporosis, infections, cardiovascular diseases and malignancy. There are limited data on prevalence of comorbidities in unselected RA patient outpatient cohorts reflecting the magnitude of comorbidities in RA patients....

Background Different than for rheumatoid arthritis, the potential benefits of conventional synthetic disease modifying drug (csDMARD) co-medication among psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients receiving tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) remain unclear.¹ Objectives This study aimed to investigate the role of concomitant csDMARDs on survival of su...

Background EULAR recommendations for cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk management in inflammatory joint diseases (IJD) advocate annual CVD risk assessment. Knowledge of the most prevalent CVD risk factors in the different IJD diagnoses may enable tailoring of efficient CVD preventive strategies for these high risk patients. Objectives 1) Evaluate...

Background Arthroplasty has become the method of choice for the treatment of displaced femoral neck fractures. This because the previous treatment standard using internal fixation had an unacceptable failure rate ranging from 33–45%. One explanation may have been the presence of osteoporosis which is highly prevalent in elderly patients with hip fr...

Objective: To investigate the association between clinical and ultrasonographic (US) evidence of inflammation in psoriatic arthritis (PsA), as well as to compare clinical and US remission criteria. Methods: In this cross-sectional study 141 PsA outpatients were included. Minimal disease activity (MDA), 28-joint Disease Activity Score (DAS28), Di...

Objective: To compare clinical outcomes following microdecompression surgery or laminectomy for central lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) between patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and patients without rheumatic disease. Material and Methods: Data were collected from the Norwegian Registry for Spine Surgery. The primary outcome was change in the Os...

Digital X-ray radiogrammetry (DXR) is a computer-assisted diagnosis technique for quantifying cortical hand bone mineral density (BMD) as well as the metacarpal index (MCI) in the metacarpal bones from radiographs. The objective was to compare DXR-BMD and DXR-MCI between healthy individuals and patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and verify the...

Reduced bone mineral density is a strong risk factor for fracture. The WHO's definition of osteoporosis is based on bone mineral density measurements assessed by dual x-ray absorptiometry. Several on other techniques than dual x-ray absorptiometry have been developed for quantitative assessment of bone, for example, quantitative ultrasound and digi...

To evaluate the case-finding strategy for osteoporosis in Norway, a questionnaire concerning risk factors for osteoporosis and history of osteodensitometry was mailed to a population-based cohort of 6000 men and 6000 women. Suboptimal examination rates among high risk and reallocation of scanning capacity to seemingly low-risk individuals was found...

Objective: To compare clinical outcomes following microdecompression or laminectomy for central lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with patients without rheumatic disease. Material and Methods: Data were collected through the Norwegian Registry for Spine Surgery (NORspine). The primary outcome was change in Oswestr...

Permanent visual impairment has been reported to occur in up to 19% of GCA patients. The aim of this study was to examine whether implementation of a fast-track approach could reduce the rate of permanent visual impairment and inpatient days of care in GCA patients. A fast-track outpatient GCA clinic (FTC) was implemented in the Department of Rheum...

In the new millennium, clinical outcomes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have improved. Despite a large number of register data, there is a lack of data reflecting the entire outpatient RA population, and in particular long-term data. The main aim of this study was to explore changes in clinical disease status and treatment in an RA outp...

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of vitamin C and E supplementation on changes in muscle mass (lean mass and muscle thickness) and strength during 12 weeks of strength training in elderly men. Thirty-four elderly males (60-81 years) were randomized to either an antioxidant group (500 mg of vitamin C and 117.5 mg vitamin E before...