All News
Sleep, Fatigue and Depression in Psoriatic Arthritis
Comorbidities are highly prevalent in psoriatic disease. A recent study in Arthritis Research & Therapy suggests a high prevalence of sleep disturbances, fatigue, and anxiety/depression in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) that is unrelated to skin disease musculoskeletal (MSK) man
Read Article
Durability of Total Shoulder Arthoplasty
A systematic review of the outcomes of total shoulder replacements (TSR), humeral hemiarthroplasties, and reverse total shoulder replacements finds that approximately 90% of shoulder replacements last for longer than 10 years with good patient-reported outcomes.
Read Article
Hepatitis C Anti-Viral Drug-Induced Arthritis
Curative direct-acting antiviral therapy (DAAT) for hepatitis-C virus (HCV) infection has been revolutionary, but a novel report shows that nearly one quarter of DAAT treated patients developed new onset or significant worsening of MSK symptoms, despite being negative for hepa
Read Article
Do NSAIDs Increase Cardiovascular Risk in Osteoarthritis?
A longitudinal study of administrative data from British Columbia shows that nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) use increases the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) among osteoarthritis (OA) patients.
Read Article
In Lupus, Older Age and Male Sex Raise Cancer Risk
Among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), cancer risks overall were associated with older age at diagnosis and male sex, and lung cancer specifically was related to smoking, analysis of data from a large multicenter cohort found.
Read Article
Update on Polymyalgia Rheumatica and Giant Cell Arteritis
JAMA has published a clinical update of recent studies on GCA. While PET/CT scanning are novel means of demonstrating activity, they have not changed the diagnostic approach to GCA or PMR and although there are no new proven treatment strategies for PMR beyond glucocorticoids, the FDA has approved tocilizumab as a first-line glucocorticoid-sparing agent.
Read Article
Selective Biologic Responses in Seropositive RA
The Journal of Rheuatology reports a pooled analysis of patients from 16 observational RA registries that examined the association between seropositivity (RF or ACPA) with biologic DMARDs responses; they showed better clinical responses when seropositive RA patients receive abatacept (ABA) o
Read Article
RheumNow Podcast – The Bad News That’s Fit to Print (8.21.20)
Dr Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow: filgotinib rejection, delays in diagnosis, metformin benefits COVID, Abx and IBD, and UPA beats MTX.
Read Article
Canakinumab Tapering in Still's Disease
You can reduce - but not stop - canakinumab therapy in patients who are in complete clinical remission in children with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
Read Article
Filgotinib Decision Delayed by FDA
On August 18th, Gilead and Galapagos received a complete response letter from the FDA, which will delay consideration of filgotinib for the treatment of moderate-to-severe RA.
Read Article
Upadacitinib is Superior to Methotrexate in Early RA
In a head-to-head trial against methotrexate, JAK1 inhibition with upadacitinib was shown to be more effective in early, DMARD-naive RA patients. Here are the primary results.
Read Article
ACP/AAFP Guidelines on Managing Musculoskeletal Pain
Topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are recommended as first-line therapy in a new guideline for treating acute, non-low back pain from musculoskeletal injuries in outpatient settings.
Read Article
Increased Lupus Anticoagulant Activity in COVID-19 Infection
JAMA Network Open reports that after adjusting for inflammation, lupus anticoagulant (LA) is significantly increased (positive) in COVID-19 patients and that LA positivity was associated with incidence risk of thrombotic events.
Read Article
Is Mortality Improving in Systemic Sclerosis?
Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a progressive autoimmune disorder that causes premature death, usually from lung, GI, or renal disease. While treatment efforts have been frustrating advances in care may have altered the risk of death according to population data showing that while SSc mortality increased from 1968 through 2000, it has declined since 2001.
Read Article
Rheumatic Diseases, Drugs and COVID-19 Guidelines
Several recent publications have focused on the risk and outcomes of rheumatic disease (RDD) and autoimmune patients who become infected with SARs-CoV-2.
Read Article
Latest COVID-19 Numbers from CDC
Following are the latest CDC numbers for COVID-19 in the U.S., including total cases and deaths; the states with the highest number of COVID-19 deaths; and COVID-19 healthcare case numbers.
Read Article
Cachexia Common in Lupus
Cachexia is an underappreciated complication of systemic lupus erythematosus, researchers reported.
Read Article
Infliximab Use Near Surgery is Safe
Risk factors for perioperative infections include age, comorbidity, rheumatoid arthritis and steroids to name a few; whether concurrent use of TNF inhibitor (TNFI) therapy adds to this risk has been debated. In a study of elderly patients receiving infliximab infusions, infliximab use prior to surgery did not change the risk of post-operative infections.
Read Article
Secukinumab Effective in Non-Radiographic Axial SpA
The PREVENT trial was a one year, phase III study that showed significant benefits when secukinumab (SEC) was given to patients with active non‐radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr‐axSpA) for 52 weeks.
Read Article
Links:
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
