All News
Weight Loss Improves Skin Outcomes in Psoriasis
A recent presentation at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) meeting in Copenhagen showed the long-term outcomes of weight loss in psoriasis.
Read Article
Sleep Apnea Increases Risk of Gout
Zhang and colleagues from Boston analyzed patients with physician diagnosed sleep apnea from The Health Improvement Network in the UK and compared these with 5 controls (age, sex, BMI matched). They studied 9,865 patients with sleep apnea and 43,598 controls.
Read Article
Initiation of Urate-Lowering Therapy During Gout Attacks
A retrospective analysis examined whether it's better to initiate urate-lowering therapy (ULT) during or after an attack of acute gout.
Read Article
Bronchiectasis Contributes to Activity and Seropositivity in Rheumatoid Arthritis
UK investigators have shown that rheumatoid arthritis patients with bronchiectasis (BRRA) have a five-fold increased mortality compared to RA without bronchiectasis. It is unclear if serologic differences, activity measures and biomarkers may be different in this cohort.
Read Article
Respiratory and Cardiovascular Mortality Higher in RA Women
Using data from the Nurses' Health Study (NHS), Sparks and colleagues analyzed 119,209 women beginning in 1976. The identified 964 incident RA cases and 28,808 deaths during 36 years of prospective follow-up.
Read Article
Toxoplasma Infections in the Immunosuppressed
In the USA, toxoplasmosis is the second leading cause of foodborne illness–related death and hospitalization, with >300 deaths and 4000 hospitalizations each year [2]; 4800 people develop visual loss yearly secondary to the parasite.
Read Article
Plaquenil Benefits Pregnant Women with Anti-Phospholipid Syndrome
Healio.com reports that pregnant women with APL antibodies and who took Plaquenil (HCQ or hydroxychloroquine) had better pregnancy outcomes than those who did not.
Read Article
Antibody Predicts Lung Disease in Myositis
Patients in the U.S. with myositis who are positive for the anti-MDA5 autoantibody are at high risk for developing interstitial lung disease (ILD), a retrospective study found.
Read Article
FDA Holds Off on Xeljanz Approval for Psoriasis
The FDA has denied Pfizer's application seeking an indication for Xeljanz in patients with moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis.
Read Article
Dietary Supplements Send 23,000 to the ER Annually
The CDC has reported in the NEJM that dietary supplements may be associated with higher than expected rates of adverse events requiring medical evaluation in the emergency department (ED).
Read Article
Decline in Physician Scientists Ahead
The Journal of Clinical Investigation reports a potential decline in the number of medical researchers in the future.
Read Article
Hydroxychloroquine Retinal Toxicity Reviewed
Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ or Plaquenil) retinopathy is rare, but still a major concern among patients and prescribers.
Read Article
DSB Reports and Updates - October 2015
This month's DSB addresses labeling changes as well as safety reports from literature, including steps to prevent major birth defects, timing and intervals between PCV13 and PPSV23 vaccines, PPIs and subacute cutaneous lupus, and FDA warnings on tramadol in children.
Read Article
ICD-10 Headlines
Nearly 2 weeks have passed since the painful launch of ICD-10 in US medical practices.
Read Article
Physical Therapy Has Modest Effects on Acute Low Back Pain
A new JAMA study shows new onset back pain treated with physical therapy yields modest short-term (3 months) improvement.
Read Article
Prescription Opioid Use Falls While Abuse Rises
From 2003 to 2013, the percentage of nonmedical use of prescription opioids decreased among adults in the U.S., while the prevalence of prescription opioid use disorders, frequency of use, and related deaths increased, according to a study in the October 13 issue of JAMA.
Read Article
Diet, Exercise and Glucosamine Fail to Prevent Knee Osteoarthritis
Primary prevention of osteoarthritis is an ideal goal for which there has been little success in clinical trials.
Read Article
Infertility in Rheumatoid Arthritis Linked to Disease Activity
Women with rheumatoid arthritis are said to have a normal number of pregnancies. However, most of these are conceived prior to the onset of RA. Once diagnosed, the RA patient who wishes to become pregnant may be faced with difficult medication choices if she is planning to become pregnant.
Read Article
Genetic Basis for Pediatric Autoimmune Diseases
Researchers at CHOP have published their investigations into the heritability of pediatric autoimmune diseases that affects roughly one in 12 persons.
Read Article
Visceral and Liver Fat Linked With Men's High Urate
Both visceral and liver fat accumulation significantly increased the risk of hyperuricemia in men, a cross-sectional Japanese study found.
Read Article