In this Arthritis At Home, we are sharing this year’s #CRArthritis with Ms. Alexandra Charlton, Lead Pharmacist in the Division of Rheumatology at the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary. She participated in The Great Debate at this year’s meeting arguing that medications should not be tapered in patients with inflammatory arthritis who are in remission. 

Alexandra defines what it means to be in remission and describes how it is different for everyone and for each disease because different disease guidelines have different definitions of what it means to be in remission. She concludes the interview with a reminder that when considering tapering, people living with arthritis should consider their medical history, duration of disease, how difficult it was for them to get into remission, and their anxiety about medications or flare ups. A younger patient with milder disease will have a different disease experience when compared to an adult patient with more active disease.

Additional learning resources

• The Lancet Rheumatology: Tapering of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs: An overview for daily practice
• The Journal of Rheumatology: One-year outcomes after decision aid-led tapering of advanced therapy in rheumatoid arthritis 
• JointHealth™ insight - Medication reimbursement coverage in Canada: A current snapshot

In this Arthritis At Home, we are sharing this year’s #CRArthritis with Dr. Lihi Eder, a Clinician-scientist at Women’s College Hospital Research Institute and Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, Canada. She discusses the interaction between perimenopause and psoriatic arthritis, and how overlapping symptoms can appear as early as 5-7 years ahead of menopause.  

Dr. Eder points to the need for patients, clinicians, and researchers to educate themselves on common symptoms and possible treatment options in order to make informed decisions. 

Additional learning resources

• Cardio-Rheumatology Clinic at Women’s College Hospital 
• Perimenopause linked to increased psoriatic arthritis activity
• Harvard Health – Perimenopause: Rocky road to menopause

In this Arthritis At Home, we are sharing this year’s #CRArthritis with Dr. Timothy Kwok, rheumatologist and clinician investigator based at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and the University of Toronto. He explains what gout is and how crystals play a role in its development.  

As part of his job, Dr. Kwok sees patients with all types of rheumatic and autoimmune diseases and dedicates half of his time on research, mainly focusing on gout. In addition, he highlights the care gaps that exist in gout and some key take away messages from his study. The study looks at what happened to patients before and after visiting the emergency department for gout. The sooner a patient can access treatment, the better the outcome. There needs to be a rapid access clinic to help diagnose gout faster.  

Additional learning resources  

• Gout and other crystal arthropathies in Canada
• Healthy changes for managing gout 
• Arthritis Research Canada: Better Control of Your Gout – What you can do now
• Arthritis Consumer Experts’ About Gout page   

In this #ArthritisAtHome, we are sharing this year’s #CRArthritis with Dr. Michelle Batthish, Associate Professor in Pediatrics at McMaster University, and Dr. Karen Beattie, Research Manager in Pediatrics in McMaster University, on mental health, alcohol, drugs, and reproductive health in arthritis care in youth.

Youth with arthritis have a higher prevalence of mental health, such as depression and anxiety. Michelle stresses that mental health screening can be built into regular doctor visits to help identify those who may be impacted so health care providers can intervene sooner. In addition, she provides tips on how youths can talk to their doctor about the use of alcohol, drugs, and managing reproductive health with their arthritis. 

 Karen highlights a study she’s working on about how the stress of a family or caregiver can indirectly or directly affect a child’s disease outcomes. Her study found that higher levels or parental stress are associated with higher disease activity in child. The duo concludes with an explanation of how tools found on the Road to Adult Arthritis Care website can help kids living with arthritis move from pediatric to adult arthritis care. 

Additional learning resources 

• Arthritis Consumer Experts’ Survey on Arthritis and Mental Health
• Road to Adult Arthritis Care
• Preparing for the transition from pediatric to adult care and beyond
• JointHealth™ Education – Arthritis and Mental Health

In this episode of Arthritis At Home, we are sharing the #CRArthritis interview with Dr. Luke Chen, hematologist and Professor of Medicine at Dalhousie University. Dr. Chendefines what lymphadenopathy (swollen lymph nodes) is and how it’s related to rheumatology and hematology. Lymphadenopathy is often a sign of inflammatory or infectious process happening in the body. A biopsy may not always reveal the underlying issues, but certain blood tests may help diagnose or rule out certain conditions. 

 About Dr. Luke Chen

 Dr. Luke Chen is a hematologist and Professor of Medicine Dalhousie University. He is also an Affiliate Professor at the University of British Columbia. His clinical and research interests are in rare inflammatory disease including IgG4-related disease, Still’s disease, and cytokine storm syndromes. 

 Additional learning resources 

• Lymphadenopathy of IgG4-related disease: An underdiagnosed and overdiagnosed entity
• Swollen lymph nodes (lymphadenopathy)
• Lymph Node Assessment Primary Care Pathway (Alberta Health Services) 

In this #ArthritisAtHome, we are sharing this year’s #CRArthritis with Dr. Marie Westby, clinician-scientist at the Centre for Aging SMART. She defines what high quality rehabilitation means and why is it so important for people recovering from total hip and knee replacement surgery.

High quality care in a healthcare setting means that the care is accessible, appropriate to meet an individual’s needs, efficient, effective, safe, and respectful of an individual’s culture and needs. Dr. Westby shares how she incorporated these qualities into the toolkits in her study.

About Dr. Marie Westby

Dr. Marie Westby is a physical therapy clinical resource educator at the Mary Pack Arthritis Program and a clinical associate professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of British Columbia.

Additional learning resources

• EQUIP-QUICK Total Joint Replacement Toolkit (English only)
• JointHealth™ insight – The Road to Joint Replacement Surgery
• 3 Fab Facts for Happy Joints for people living with osteoarthritis

In this episode of Arthritis At Home, we are sharing the #CRArthritis 2026 interview with Ms. Trish Barbato, President and CEO of Arthritis Society Canada. Trish summarizes the key points in Arthritis Action Now: The Plan to End Arthritis in Canada. Arthritis Action Now is Canada’s first actionable, coordinated strategy to transform prevention, care, and research for arthritis. It was co-created by 21 ecosystem champions organizations representing patients, clinicians, researchers, health system leaders, and advocates.  

Additional learning resources 

• Arthritis Action Now: The Plan to End Arthritis in Canada
• Arthritis Consumer Experts’ Arthritis Medications Report Card
• Arthritis Call to Action

In this episode of Arthritis At Home, we are sharing the #CRArthritis 2026 interview with Dr. Denis Poddubnyy, Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Poddubnyy discusses his experience first working in Germany and then moving to Canada in July 2024. He talks about the similarities and differences in the health and education systems between the two countries. He stresses the importance of patient support and patient advisors in the healthcare system. 

In addition, he defines what is meant by tough-to-treat inflammatory arthritis and what patients should be aware of in terms of different treatment options, such as treat to target and precision medicine. Denis concludes with tips for people living with arthritis on how to manage their arthritis – things that they can do at home to minimize pain or inflammation. 

 Additional learning resources 

• The treatment landscape in axial spondyloarthritis – do we need new therapies?
• Arthritis Consumer Experts National Survey on Artificial Intelligence and Arthritis Care Report

June is National Indigenous History Month. Arthritis Consumer Experts would like to highlight that arthritis affects Indigenous Peoples’ more significantly and more severely than in non-Indigenous populations. 

To understand and practice Indigenous health, there must be respect for Indigenous Peoples, their world views, ways of knowing, and cultural practices. The concept of health for Indigenous Peoples is relational. In other words, the state of being in good health requires alignment of physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and environmental health. 

In this episode of Arthritis At Home, we are highlighting a study with Drs. Whitney Hung and Steven Katz from the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta. They highlight the long wait times and high rate of patient no-shows or cancellations in the NWT and describe what are the biggest barriers preventing patients from accessing timely rheumatology care, and what can be done to improve access. They also comment on their study that suggests Indigenous and female patients may be disproportionately affected by access barriers and recommend what steps can be taken to ensure more equitable care for these populations. 

Additional learning resources 

• ACE Advocacy: Addressing Health Inequities
• ACE National Survey on Arthritis and Health Inequities
• CBC: N.W.T. no longer offering rheumatology services, patients must travel to Edmonton 

In this episode of Arthritis At Home, we are excited to share the #CRArthritis 2026 interview with Dr. Marinka Twilt, a Professor in the Cumming School of Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Calgary.

Dr. Twilt highlights key points from her workshop at this year’s meeting titled “Demystifying ‘That Mysterious Joint (TMJ)’: A Succinct, Hands-on Approach to TMJ Assessment”. She defines what is meant by temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and highlights how a TMJ assessment tool available online can help people living with arthritis. This is especially important in young people as the TMJ is still developing up until age 25. 

Additional learning resources 

• The TMJ Association Limited
• Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction Pathway
• Mayo Clinic: TMJ Disorders