All News
EULAR 2024 - Day 1 Report
Wednesday was Day One at EULAR 2024 in Vienna. While the day was a slow start, the poster halls and auditoriums quickly filled with thousands of rheumatologists, eager to reunite at this international educational forum. Below are a few of my favorites from Day 1.
Read Article
AI meets Rheumatology: ChatGPT and patient response optimization
Large language models, such as ChatGPT, are advanced systems trained on vast amounts of text data, far exceeding what a human can read in a lifetime, to understand and generate human-like language. With these tools at our disposal, they are inevitably making their way into healthcare. One notable example is response optimization for SLE patients, as highlighted in abstract #0989.
Read Article
Is Cannabis Safe? (6.7.2024)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews FDA approval, news and journal articles -- and it’s the week before EULAR 2024 in Vienna!!
Read Article
Cannabis Use is Common, But is it Safe?
Two current JAMA reports suggest that cannabis use is not only common, but that if heavily used may increase mortality rates.
Read Article
Molecular Profile for Cardiovascular Risk in Rheumatoid Arthritis
A new study led by the University of Córdoba, the Maimonides Institute for Biomedical Research and the Rheumatology Department at the Reina Sofía University Hospital in Córdoba has managed to establish, for the first time, the molecular profile of those patients with rheumatoid arthritis who have a higher risk of suffering cardiovascular events.
Read Article
JAK or TNF Inhibitor as First Drug for Rheumatoid Arthritis?
A Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor outperformed tumor necrosis factor (TNF) blockers for substantially reducing rheumatoid arthritis (RA) symptoms in patients for whom conventional anti-rheumatic drugs had failed, a pragmatic head-to-head trial found.
Read Article
Role of Diet in Gout Risk
Diet has long been influential in gout care and risks. A large cohort study has shown that plant-based diets may reduce the risk of developing gout.
This prospective study assessed the risk of developing incident gout based on consumption of healthy and unhealthy plant-based diets.
ACR’s Run at Goliath (PCPs) (5.31.2024)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the journal reports and articles from this past week on RheumNow.com. The ACR (and Cush) address their new website designed to educate PCPs and APPs - what do you think?
Read Article
Metformin Lowers Gout Risk in Pre-Diabetes
A large, propensity score-matched cohort study shows that metformin use in patients with pre-diabetes significantly lowers the risk of future gout.
Biologic-treated Psoriasis has Less Progression to Psoriatic Arthritis
A single center study demonstrates that biologic treatment of psoriasis (PsO) significantly reduces the likelihood of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) development; suggesting a role for more aggressive treatment of PsO.
Hypertension not associated with High NSAID Doses in AxSpA
At the recent SPARTAN annual meeting in Cleveland, Dr. Jose Meade-Aguilar reported that amongst axial spondyloarthritis patients receiving nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, there was no difference in the risk for hypertension when comparing those on high vs. low dose NSAIDs.
Read Article
Biomarkers Predictive of a Deucravacitinib Response in Psoriatic Arthritis
A phase II trial demonstrating the clinical efficacy of deucravacitinib, a TYK2 inhibitor, in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) suggests specific biologic effects identified by biomarkers may predict clinical responses.
Window of Opportunity in Psoriatic Arthritis
The Dutch southwest Early psoriatic arthritis (PsA) cohort study has demonstrated that the earlier the referral and diagnosis of PsA, the better the outcome.
No Link Between Autoimmune Diseases and Monoclonal Gammopathy of Undetermined Significance
Annals of Internal Medicine reports a study of more than 75,000 persons screened for monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and found no association between autoimmune rheumatic disease (AIRD) and MGUS.
SLE Cost of Care and Disease Activity
A longitudinal, multinational study shows that SLE patients achieving remission or low disease activity incur lower overall direct/indirect (DCs, ICs) healthcare costs than those with persistent activity.
Upside/Downside of Steroids in Lupus Nephritis
A systematic review of randomized clinical trials of patients with biopsy-proven lupus nephritis (LN) demonstrates both the benefits and harms to early glucocorticoid (GC) regimens on lupus outcomes.
"Don't You Know Who I am?" (5.17.2024)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from the past 2 weeks. This week's question: can we prevent gout, ILD or psoriasis?
Read Article
Infectious Mortality in Autoimmune Rheumatic Disorders
Infectious conditions are a significant cause of mortality in autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARD). Among patients hospitalized with an infection, we compared in-hospital and long-term (3-year) mortality between those with and without ARD.
Interferons and Lupus Subsets
In a new study, researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have uncovered insights as to the relationship between interferons and lupus, which affects up to 1.5 million Americans.
Read Article
RECIPE Study: Non-opioid Analgesics following Total Hip Arthroplasty
Patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty using a combination of paracetamol, ibuprofen, and dexamethasone, had optimal responses with the lowest morphine consumption, and fewer adverse events.
Read Article
