Concerns about the unintended risks inherent in electronic health records (EHR) by analysis of EHR–related harms identified from large database of malpractice suits and claims; they found that EHR related adverse events exist, and may be associated with an severe harms and uncommonly, death.

Pregnancy for patients with lupus has long been considered high risk and associated with both medical and obstetric complications, but outcomes have improved over the last 2 decades and continue to improve. The large decline in in-hospital maternal mortality was greater for lupus pregnancies than for non-lupus pregnancies. Findings from a retrospective cohort study are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Opioids were commonly given to patients as a treatment for acute gout attacks, despite the availability of other effective and appropriate therapies, a retrospective study found.

While it is clear that long-term bisphosphonate therapies reduce fracture risk in women with osteoporosis, it is unclear how to counter-balance these benefits against rare serious harms and how to optimize therapeutic benefits with appropriate drug holidays.

A systematic analysis of 48 studies compared long-term osteoporosis drug treatment (ODT) (>3 years) versus control versus ODT continuation versus durg discontinuation, to examine incident fractures or harms.

Editor's note: July 1 - 5, RheumNow is running the best of the EULAR 2019 meeting. Dr. Jack Cush reports from Madrid on several novel presentations from EULAR 2019, including low-dose steroids in hand OA, ABA vs. ADA in double positive RA patients, psoriasis predictors of PsA, tildrakizumab and more.

Editor's note: July 1 - 5, RheumNow is running the best of the EULAR 2019 meeting. It was a full and lively second day in Madrid with sessions dedicated to Lupus, RA, Sjogren’s, imaging, rare diseases, psoriatic arthritis and spondyloarthritis. Here are a few of the highlights from day two at EULAR 2019.

MMWR has published the outcomes from the Georgia Lupus Registry between 2002 and 2016, finding that black women were not only more likely to die from lupus than white lupus patients; but they died on average 13 years earlier (mean age 51.8 and 52.3 years, respectively) than whites (mean age 64.4 and 65.0 years, respectively).

Black women with lupus were 3.34 times more likely to die than black women in the general population, while white women with lupus were 2.43 times more likely to die than white women in the general population. None of the white women with lupus died within 5 years of diagnosis, while mortality was elevated for black women from the date of diagnosis on.

The American College of Physicians (ACP) is encouraged by the Trump administration’s executive order to improve transparency of health care costs.

A large study of UK family practice patients shows that polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) or giant cell arteritis (GCA) patients treated with glucocorticoids are at an increased risk of bacterial, viral, parasitic and fungal infection, even at daily doses of less than 5 mg prednisolone.

This EULAR 2019 Podcast is a compilation of audio clips from EULAR 2019 in Madrid.

Click HERE to listen.

Recommendations for the screening, diagnosis, and treatment of various diseases often differ by organization, making it difficult to know which ones to follow.

Rheumatoid arthritis patients taking tofacitinib (Xeljanz) plus methotrexate who achieved low disease activity (LDA) may be able to withdraw from the latter agent without significant worsening of disease activity, a researcher reported at EULAR 2019 in Madrid.

Saturday June 15th was the last half-day at EULAR 2019 but was highlighted by the “late-breaking” (LB) presentations that were presented from the podium and by poster.

Below are the top “LB” presentations from EULAR this year:

Dr. Jack Cush reports from Madrid on several novel presentations from EULAR 2019.

1. Genovese Vagal nerve stimulator in RA

It was a full and lively 2nd day in Madrid with sessions dedicated to Lupus, RA, Sjogren’s, imaging, rare diseases, psoriatic arthritis and spondyloarthritis. Here are a few of the highlights from day 2 EULAR in Madrid 

Many of the great presentations from EULAR 2019 feature industry sponsored clinical trials.  Often these become the pivotal studies for regulatory approval and the annual congresses are their first look.

EULAR 2019 begins today in Madrid and features over 2000 presentations.  After an initial review of titles and abstracts, I’ve compiled a hit list of presentations of interest to me and hopefully other practicing rheumatologists.  

The first EULAR recommendations for the diagnosis of gout were published in 2006. A task force was formed and following a systematic review, they voted unanimously for changes in all items of the 2006 recommendations.

Reuters has reported that Mallinckrodt Plc has tentatively agreed to pay $15.4 million to resolve a US Justice Department investigation into company promotional practices for Acthar gel.