1. 2022 American College of Rheumatology/European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology classification criteria for granulomatosis with polyangiitis
Joanna C Robson, et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2022 Mar;81(3):315-320. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2021-221795. Epub 2022 Feb 2.
Objective: To develop and validate revised classification criteria for granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA). Methods: Patients with vasculitis or comparator diseases were recruited into an international cohort. The study proceeded in five phases: (1) identification of candidate criteria items using consensus methodology, (2) prospective collection of candidate items present at the time of diagnosis, (3) data-driven reduction of the number of candidate items, (4) expert panel review of cases to define the reference diagnosis and (5) derivation of a points-based risk score for disease classification in a development set using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator logistic regression, with subsequent validation of performance characteristics in an independent set of cases and comparators. Results: The development set for GPA consisted of 578 cases of GPA and 652 comparators. The validation set consisted of an additional 146 cases of GPA and 161 comparators. From 91 candidate items, regression analysis identified 26 items for GPA, 10 of which were retained. The final criteria and their weights were as follows: bloody nasal discharge, nasal crusting or sino-nasal congestion (+3); cartilaginous involvement (+2); conductive or sensorineural hearing loss (+1); cytoplasmic antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) or anti-proteinase 3 ANCA positivity (+5); pulmonary nodules, mass or cavitation on chest imaging (+2); granuloma or giant cells on biopsy (+2); inflammation or consolidation of the nasal/paranasal sinuses on imaging (+1); pauci-immune glomerulonephritis (+1); perinuclear ANCA or antimyeloperoxidase ANCA positivity (-1); and eosinophil count ≥1×109 /L (-4). After excluding mimics of vasculitis, a patient with a diagnosis of small- or medium-vessel vasculitis could be classified as having GPA if the cumulative score was ≥5 points. When these criteria were tested in the validation data set, the sensitivity was 93% (95% CI 87% to 96%) and the specificity was 94% (95% CI 89% to 97%). Conclusion: The 2022 American College of Rheumatology/European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology classification criteria for GPA demonstrate strong performance characteristics and are validated for use in research.
2. Interventions for managing skeletal muscle spasticity following traumatic brain injury
Anneliese Synnot, Marisa Chau, Veronica Pitt, Denise O'Connor, Russell L Gruen, Jason Wasiak, Ornella Clavisi, Loyal Pattuwage, Kate Phillips Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017 Nov 22;11(11):CD008929. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD008929.pub2.
Background: Skeletal muscle spasticity is a major physical complication resulting from traumatic brain injury (TBI), which can lead to muscle contracture, joint stiffness, reduced range of movement, broken skin and pain. Treatments for spasticity include a range of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions, often used in combination. Management of spasticity following TBI varies from other clinical populations because of the added complexity of behavioural and cognitive issues associated with TBI. Objectives: To assess the effects of interventions for managing skeletal muscle spasticity in people with TBI.
3. 2022 American College of Rheumatology/European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology classification criteria for microscopic polyangiitis
Ravi Suppiah, et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2022 Mar;81(3):321-326. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2021-221796. Epub 2022 Feb 2.
Objective: To develop and validate classification criteria for microscopic polyangiitis (MPA). Methods: Patients with vasculitis or comparator diseases were recruited into an international cohort. The study proceeded in five phases: (1) identification of candidate items using consensus methodology, (2) prospective collection of candidate items present at the time of diagnosis, (3) data-driven reduction of the number of candidate items, (4) expert panel review of cases to define the reference diagnosis and (5) derivation of a points-based risk score for disease classification in a development set using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator logistic regression, with subsequent validation of performance characteristics in an independent set of cases and comparators. Results: The development set for MPA consisted of 149 cases of MPA and 408 comparators. The validation set consisted of an additional 142 cases of MPA and 414 comparators. From 91 candidate items, regression analysis identified 10 items for MPA, 6 of which were retained. The final criteria and their weights were as follows: perinuclear antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) or anti-myeloperoxidase-ANCA positivity (+6), pauci-immune glomerulonephritis (+3), lung fibrosis or interstitial lung disease (+3), sino-nasal symptoms or signs (-3), cytoplasmic ANCA or anti-proteinase 3 ANCA positivity (-1) and eosinophil count ≥1×109/L (-4). After excluding mimics of vasculitis, a patient with a diagnosis of small- or medium-vessel vasculitis could be classified as having MPA with a cumulative score of ≥5 points. When these criteria were tested in the validation data set, the sensitivity was 91% (95% CI 85% to 95%) and the specificity was 94% (95% CI 92% to 96%). Conclusion: The 2022 American College of Rheumatology/European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology classification criteria for MPA are now validated for use in clinical research.
