American College of Rheumatology

To date there is no diagnostic test specific for rheumatoid arthritis. Revised classification criteria for the diagnosis of RA were formulated by the American College of Rheumatology [1] based on a hospital... 

NSAID.10 The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and American Pain Society (APS) concur that acetaminophen is a first-line pharmacologic agent for treating mild pain that is unresponsive to nonpharmacologic measures.11,12... 

American College of Rheumatology Subcommittee on Osteoarthritis Guidelines. Recommendations for the medical management of osteoarthritis of the hip and knee 2000 update. Arthritis Rheum 2000 43 1905-1915. 

Criteria for the classification of OA of the hips, knees, and hands were developed by the American College of Rheumatology (ACR). The criteria include the presence of pain, bony changes on examination, a normal erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and radiographs showing characteristic osteophytes or joint space narrowing. 

Weissmann, G. Annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology, San Francisco, 2001. 

With the advent of biological-DMARD combinations with Methotrexate (MTX) a new era of therapy in autoimmune disease is introduced. DMARD-refractory autoimmune diseases are treated with combinations of a biological with MTX with achievement of improvements of ACR 20 and ASAS 20 in the majority of patients. A small minority of around 20% obtains improvements of ACR 70 and ASAS 70. ACR responses are American College of Rheumatology response criteria and ASAS stands for Assessment in Ankylosing Spondylitis. ACR and ASAS 20, 50 or 70 scores are exactly defined improvements of respectively 20%, 50% or 70%. 

Wortmann R, Schumacher H, Becker M, Macdonald PA, Palo WA, Eustace D et al. Reduction in tophus size in subjects with chronic gout treated with febuxostat or aUopurinol for 52 weeks - FACT trial. Program and abstracts of the American College of Rheumatology Aimual Scientific Meeting. San Diego (CA) 2005. Poster 203. 

The safety and efficacy of Remicade when given in conjunction with methotrexate (MTX) were assessed in a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 428 patients with active rheumatoid arthritis despite treatment with MTX. All patients were to have received MTX for >6 months and be on a stable dose >12.5mg/week for 4 weeks prior to study. All Remicade and placebo groups continued their stable dose of MTX and folic acid. In addition to MTX, patients received placebo or Remicade by intravenous infusion at weeks 0, 2, and 6 followed by additional infusions every 4 or 8 weeks thereafter. The primary end point was the proportion of patients at week 30 who attained an improvement in signs and symptoms as measured by the American College of Rheumatology criteria (ACR 20). An ACR 20 response is defined as at least a 20% improvement in both tender and swollen joint counts and in 3 of 5 clinical criteria. At week 30, 43/86 (50%) of patients treated every 8 weeks with 3 mg/kg of Remicade plus MTX attained an ACR 20 compared with 18/88 (20%) of patients treated with placebo plus MTX ip < 0.001). 

American College of Rheumatology Task Force on Osteoporosis Guidelines. Recommendations for the prevention and treatment of glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis. Arthritis Rheum 1996 39(11) 1791-801. 

Source Arnett, et al. The American Rheumatism Association 1987 Revised Criteria for the Classification of Rheumatoid Arthritis. Arthritis and Rheumatism.1988 31 315-324. Reprinted from Arthritis and Rheumatism Journal, copyright 1988. Used with permission from the American College of Rheumatology. 

Wolfe F, Smythe HA, Yunus MB, Bennett RM, Bombardier C, Goldenberg DL, Tugwell P, Campbell SM, Abeles M, Clark P, et al. The American College of Rheumatology criteria for the classification of fibromylagia. Report of the multicenter criteria committee. Arthritis Rheumatol 1990 33 160-172. 

L. Sewell. 2003. Synovial biomarker study of ISIS 104838, an antisense oligodeoxy-nucleotide targeting TNF-alpha, in rheumatoid arthritis. In 67th Annual Meeting of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR). October 23-28, Orlando, Florida, USA. 

HI2. Hochberg, M. C., Updating the American College of Rheumatology Revised Criteria for classification of SLE. Arthritis Rheum. 40, 1725 (1997). 

The prevalence of SLE is 1 in 2,000 persons with females more likely to be affected by a ratio of 8 or 9 to 1. SLE also occurs more frequently in nonwhite women during their child bearing years. Childhood onset of SLE is relatively rare and includes a diverse array of presenting features sufficient to meet American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria for SLE. In a review of childhood onset SLE patients in South Africa, the male to female ratio is 1 2.6 overall with a ratio of 1 1.2 if diagnosed under 10 years of age (Ealler et al.,2005). 

ACR ad hoc committee on neuropsychiatric lupus nomenclature (1999) The American College of Rheumatology nomenclature as case definitions for neuropsychiatric lupus syndrome. Arthritis Rheum 42 599-608. 

Rheumatoid arthritis Double-blind, randomized, controlled trial 12 months Leflunomide 100 mg/day for 3 days, thereafter 20 mg/day (n = 182) versus methotrexate 7.5-15 mg/ week (n = 180) versus placebo (n= 118) American College of Rheumatology response and success rates were leflunomide 52% and 41%, methotrexate 46% and 35%, and placebo 26% and 19% (9)... 

Rheumatoid arthritis Follow-up study 2 years Leflunomide (n = 98) versus methotrexate (n = 101) American College of Rheumatology 20, 50, and 70 response rates for leflunomide versus methotrexate were 79 versus 67%, 56 versus 43%, and 26 versus 20% (14)... 

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