Canadian early RA (ERA) patients were interviewd to depict their perspectives from onset and diagnosis to referral and care. This report highlights the importance of patient pain and primary care physician (PCP) intake and referral. PCP and HCP delays in referral to a specialist still exist.

A recent Forbes article, "Biosimilars Are Making Inroads In U.S., But It’s Still A Bumpy Ride", reviews the current state and reasons for slowish uptake of these significant cost-savings alternatives to biologic therapy in treating cancer and autoimmune disorders. The following are takeaway bullets from this informative article.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from this past week from RheumNow.com.

A EULAR taskforce has evaluated the effect of lifestyle behaviors in rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs) and concluded that there is moderate evidence for a small benefit for certain dietary components, but overall, high-level evidence regarding dietary exposures on outcomes in RMDs is lacking.

The NEJM reports what should be obvious to rheumatologists: that older adults with severe hip osteoarthritis should opt for total hip replacement (THR) over conservative exercise measures as THR yields a clinically important improvement in pain and function.

Medscape has published a survey overview of US Medical Student impressions and experiences, satisfaction, what they think of their education and how prepared are they for the USMLE (boards) and residency.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) outcomes were assessed based on whether they received sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i), in the setting of comorbid type 2 diabetes (T2D).

A real-world cohort study suggests that psoriatic arthritis failing to respond to TNF inhibitors (TNFi) may do better if they subsequently swap to an IL-17 inhibitor, rather than cycling to another TNFi.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal articles from this past week on RheumNow.com.

Reuters reports that a U.S. appeals court on Friday revived more than 500 lawsuits alleging that Merck failed to warn that patients taking alendronate for osteoporosis may be at increased the risk of atypical femoral fractures.

A University of Mississippi-led comprehensive study of a disorder that affects 4.27 million Americans nationwide is revealing just how significant its burdens are on patients' financial well-being and quality of life. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis pay an average of $3,383 more per year on health care expenditures than those without the disorder, according to the study published in ACR Open Rheumatology, the American College of Rheumatology’s journal.