Eun Ha Kang

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence, characteristics and prognostic factors of interstitial lung disease (ILD) in Korean patients with polymyositis (PM), dermatomyositis (DM) and amyopathic dermatomyositis (ADM). METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of 72 consecutive PM and DM patients, including six patients with ADM, who were seen at the Rheumatology Clinic of Seoul National University Hospital between 1984 and 2003. RESULTS: Twenty-nine PM/DM patients (40.3%) developed ILD. Anti-Jo-1 anti

INTRODUCTION: Adiponectin has been implicated in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA). We studied the effects of adiponectin on the OA cartilage homeostasis. METHODS: Immunohistochemical analysis was performed to evaluate differential expression of adiponectin receptors (AdipoRs) in nonlesional and lesional areas of OA cartilage. Cartilage and chondrocytes from the knee joints of primary OA patients were cultured in the presence of adiponectin (0~30 μg/ml). The levels of total nitric oxide (N

OBJECTIVES: To compare salivary cytokine profiles in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS), non-SS sicca controls, and non-sicca controls, and to investigate whether cytokine levels are correlated with clinical parameters of pSS patients. METHODS: Un-stimulated whole saliva samples were obtained from pSS patients (n=30) classified according to the criteria of the American European Consensus Group. Age- and gender-matched non-SS sicca patients (n=30) and non-sicca subjects (n=25) served

BACKGROUND: To investigate the association between myositis autoantibodies and clinical subsets of inflammatory myositis in Korean patients. METHODS: Immunoprecipitation was performed using the sera of classic polymyositis (PM) (n = 11) and dermatomyositis (DM) (n = 38) patients who met the Bohan and Peter criteria for definite inflammatory myositis. A panel of defined myositis autoantibodies was surveyed to investigate the association between each autoantibody and clinical subsets of inflammato

Background We examined the cardiovascular risk of abatacept compared with tumor necrosis factor ( TNF ) inhibitors in patients with rheumatoid arthritis with and without diabetes mellitus ( DM ). Methods and Results We conducted a cohort study of patients with rheumatoid arthritis who newly started abatacept or TNF inhibitors using claims data from Medicare and MarketScan. The primary outcome was a composite cardiovascular end point of myocardial infarction ( MI ), stroke/transient ischemic atta

AIMS: With the high prevalence of gout and associated cardiovascular (CV) diseases, information on the comparative CV safety of individual urate-lowering drugs becomes increasingly important. However, few studies examined the CV risk of uricosuric agents. We compared CV risk among patients with gout who initiated allopurinol vs. benzbromarone. METHODS AND RESULTS: Using the Korean National Health Insurance claims data (2002-17), we conducted a cohort study of 124 434 gout patients who initiated

Lung illness encountered in patients with rheumatic diseases bears clinical significance in terms of increased morbidity and mortality as well as potential challenges placed on patient care. Although our understanding of natural history of this important illness is still limited, epidemiologic knowledge has been accumulated during the past decade to provide useful information on the risk factors and prognosis of lung involvements in rheumatic diseases. Moreover, the pathogenesis particularly in

OBJECTIVES: The aim was to compare standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) of cancers temporally related and unrelated to active myositis in patients with myositis. METHODS: Fifty-two cancer cases were identified in 281 myositis patients. SIRs of cancers having temporal overlap with the active phase of myositis [cancers concurrent with active myositis (CAM), n = 30] and cancers not having such temporal overlap [cancers non-concurrent with active myositis (CNM), n = 22] were compared in 281 patients

OBJECTIVE: To compare the risk of dementia associated with sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors versus dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors in adults aged 40-69 years with type 2 diabetes. DESIGN: Population based cohort study. SETTING: Korean National Health Insurance Service data, 2013-21. PARTICIPANTS: 110 885 propensity score matched pairs of adults with type 2 diabetes aged 40-69 years who were initiators of either an SGLT-2 inhibitor or a DPP-4 inhibitor. MAIN OUTCOME ME

HLA-A*02:07, A*26:01, and A*30:04 were associated with increased risk for BD, while HLA-A*33:03 with decreased risk. HLA-A*02:07, A*26:01, and A*30:04 were associated with skin lesions and arthritis, with uveitis, and with vascular lesions, genital ulcers, and a positive pathergy test, respectively.

Autoantibodies encountered in patients with systemic rheumatic diseases bear clinical significance as a biomarker to help or predict diagnosis, clinical phenotypes, prognosis, and treatment decision-making. Furthermore, evidence has accumulated regarding the active involvement of disease-specific or disease-associated autoantibodies in the pathogenic process beyond simple association with the disease, and such knowledge has become essential for us to better understand the clinical value of autoa

OBJECTIVE: To compare cardiovascular (CV) risk among gout patients initiating allopurinol vs febuxostat. METHODS: Using 2002-2015 Korean National Health Insurance Service data for the entire Korean population, we conducted a cohort study on gout patients initiating allopurinol or febuxostat. The primary outcome was a composite CV end point of myocardial infarction, stroke/transient ischaemic attack, or coronary revascularization. Secondary outcomes were individual components of the primary outco

Although radioimmunoprecipitation still looks to be a good screening tool, confirmation with antigen-specific assays seems mandatory. The associations between anti-MDA5 and rapidly progressive ILD and between anti-TIF-1γ and cancer-associated DM were confirmed in Korean patients with DM.