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Opioids Double Rates of Suicides and Overdoses
An article in the New England Journal of Medicine reports that the rates of suicide and drug overdoses has doubled in the last 17 years, and that opioids are largely to blame.
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2018 Rheumatology Year In Review
This annual appraisal of hallmark moments, news and research articles from 2018 are gleaned from that published in RheumNow during the last year and filtered by other news sources and literature review. The top 10 list herein is rooted in what rheumatologists should know and what will likel
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Uncertain Long Term Efficacy in Trials of Knee Osteoarthritis
A systematic review and network meta-analysis of 47 randomized clinical trials in knee osteoarthritis finds uncertainty around estimates of effect size for pain scores thereby casting uncertainty over the long-term efficacy of medications for knee osteoarthritis.
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Best of 2018: U.S. News 2018-19 Rheumatology Rankings
The Annual U.S. News and World Report Rankings of Hospitals has listed the top contenders in the field of rheumatology. The U.S. News Review rates hospitals nationwide in 16 specialties – including rheumatology. Of the 4,500 hospitals covered by U.S.
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Zolendronate Protects Against Fracture in Osteopenia
The NEJM reports that the use of zoledronate significantly reduces the risk of nonvertebral or vertebral fragility fractures in women with osteopenia.
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Reassuring VTE Data for Tofacitinib
No significant differences in risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE) were seen in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with tofacitinib (Xeljanz) and those receiving tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors, analysis of administrative data showed.
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H2H: Ixekizumab vs. Adalimumab in Psoriatic Arthritis
Lilly has issued an advanced press release on its SPIRIT-H2H trial, wherein ixekizumab (Taltz) was shown to be more effective than than adalimumab (Humira) in a 24 week psoriatic arthritis study.
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Rising Physician Exclusion from Medicare and Medicaid
JAMA Network Open has published that an increasing number of physicians are being excluded from Medicare and other forms of public insurance.
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Cryotherapy Never FDA Approved
Another injury related to whole body cryotherapy (WBC) has been reported by practitioners in Philadelphia, serving as yet another warning of WBC's potential to cause serious adverse effects.
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CDC Top 15 Most Common Opioid Overdose Drugs
The Dec. 12 issue of the National Vital Statistics Reports from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the most commonly abused drugs causing drug overdose deaths (between 2011-2016) include fentanyl, heroin, oxycodone, and cocaine.
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Psoriatic Arthritis Does Not Add to Pregnancy Problems
When psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients become pregnant, they do not have more infertility or adverse pregnancy outcomes compared to healthy controls.
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CV Risks Similar in Systemic Sclerosis and Rheumatoid Arthritis
Interactions between disease-related inflammatory processes and the development of several morbidities have been well-studied in RA, particularly heart disease. This is not the case for the often-lethal SSc (estimated standardized mortality ratio between 2.5 and 4.0).
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Genetic Diagnosis for Previously Undiagnosed Disorders
The NEJM has reported the NIH's Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN) study results of genetically identifying new diseases from prospectively followed persons with undiagnosed disorders.
The UDN was formed in 2014 as a network of seven clinical sites, two sequencing cores, a coordinating center, central biorepository, a metabolomics core, and a model organisms screening center. It was established to apply a multidisciplinary model in the evaluation of the most challenging cases and to identify the biologic characteristics of newly discovered diseases.
SLE and Risk of Malignancy
The risk for cancer in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients has been inconsistently studied. A new metanalysis shows that SLE has an increased risk for 16 specific cancers and decreased risk for prostate cancer and cutaneous melanoma.
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Deprescribing to Battle Polypharmacy
The Gerontological Society of America has published a report calling for deprescribing as a means of managing polypharmacy in the elderly.
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The Benefits of a Lupus Clinic
A comparative cohort study assessing the quality of care in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) suggests that a dedicated lupus clinic has better quality measure performance compared to lupus management in a general rheumatology clinic.
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PRAIRI Study - Can RA Be Prevented?
B-cell depletion may offer a means of delaying the onset of clinical arthritis in adults at high risk, according to the PRAIRI study - a proof-of-mechanism study in pre-clinical RA patients.
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Limited Impact of Vitamin D Supplementation
A systematic review of 81 studies on vitamin D concludes that vitamin D supplementation does not prevent fractures or falls, or have clinically meaningful effects on bone mineral density.
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RheumNow Podcast – To Needle or Not to Needle (11.30.18)
Dr. Jack Cush updates the news and reports from the past week at RheumNow.com:
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Rheumatoid Lung Disease Imposes Significant Morbidity and Mortality
Insurance claims data were analyzed for the frequency of interstitial lung disease (ILD) associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and finds that although rare, its frequency increased over time and it is associated with a significant mortality rate.
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