All News
Serious Infections are Increasing in Lupus
Tektonidou and coworkers have analyzed hospitalized serious infections (SIE) involving lupus patients over a 15 year period and show that SIE in SLE have increased substantially between 1996 and 2011, and in 2011 are 12 times higher than seen in patients without SLE.
Read ArticleCancer Risk Is Both Increased and Decreased in RA
Rheumatoid arthritis patients are often said to have no or a low risk of cancer.
Read ArticlePatients Unaware that Smoking Worsens IBD
Smoking is a well-known inciting or exacerbating factor in many inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
Read ArticleLong-Term Safety of Rituximab
Rituximab has been used for years with good efficacy, but with several safety concerns. Van Vollenhoven and colleagues have published the cumulative clinical trial safety experience of RTX wherein 3595 patients 1–20 (average - 4) courses over 11 years [14,816 patient-years (PY)].
Read ArticleNSAIDs and the Risk of Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Your patient with Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis has a musculoskeletal problem that needs treatment. You consider a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, but are reminded that “NSAIDs are to be avoided as these drugs will worsen inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)”.
Read ArticleDSB: Managing Methotrexate Toxicity
Methotrexate was first introduced in 1955 for leukemia and in 1986 became FDA approved for the treatment of adults with severe, active, rheumatoid arthritis or children with active polyarticular-course juvenile RA.
Read ArticleRituximab Induced Neutropenia
In reviewing submitted abstracts for the 2014 ACR meeting, I was surprised by several abstracts focusing on neutropenia in patients receiving rituximab.
Read ArticleHeel Pain, Uveitis, TB, Vitamin D, Hidradenitis: July 2015 top social media news
In July 2015, RheumNow published 73 tweets about impactful news, research and teaching points that I feel will have an impact on the rheumatology community. We had a reach (impressions) of 49,900, 63 mentions, and 1277 visits to RheumNow.com to check out what we publish.
Read ArticleSafety Reports in the News
Can We Do Better than FAERS? Brian Overstreet (of Adverseevents.com) has written on MedPageToday.com about the current state of adverse event reporting.
Read ArticleLegionella Outbreak in NYC
An outbreak of Legionnaires' disease has killed four people and sickened 65 in the Bronx section of New York City since July 10, according to New York City health officials. This Legionnaires' outbreak is now more than five times the number of cases recorded in the last outbre
Read ArticleWhat's Your Diagnosis? Truncal Rash, Arthritis and +ANA
An 80 year old woman complains of 3 months of rash on her back. It is modestly pruritic. The lesions are both annular and papular appearing over her back, torso and upper arms. She also complains of pain and swelling in her fingers.
Read ArticleDSB: Drug Shortages July 2015
Several drugs continue to be in short supply, posing significant problems for patients. Foremost on this list is leflunomide (Arava) which is backordered for both 10 mg and 20 mg tablets.
Leflunomide Shortage
Read ArticleAllopurinol Risky in Asian Population
The go-to drug to treat hyperuricemia and gout, allopurinol, put patients at risk for developing hypersensitivity when American College of Rheumatology guidelines weren't followed, a large database study found.
Read ArticleDoes Antibiotic Exposure Increase the Risk of JIA?
According to the CDC, between 4300 and 9700 children under the age of 16 are diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis each year - the cause of which is unknown.
Read ArticleThe Spread of Lyme Disease in the US
It is estimated that Lyme disease affects nearly 30,000 per year in the USA. While it is is still a disorder of the Northeast and upper Midwest, there are more areas also considered to be high risk.
Read ArticleIntracranial Hemorrhage with Combined NSAID and Antidepressant Use
The British Medical Journal reports that the combined use of NSAIDs and anti-depressants were associate with higher rates of intracranial bleeding within 30 days of initiation (Citation source http://buff.ly/1gF3uEJ).
Read ArticleDSB Reports & Updates – July 2015
FDA Scours the Internet for Safety Signals. A Bloomberg News report shows how the FDA is using Google or Yahoo keyword searches to identify new safety signals or drug interactions, often more than a year before they were brought to light by the FDA based on prior methodologies de
Read ArticleFactors Affecting Opiate Abuse Identified
Researchers have determined that adults aged 50 and above were more likely to acquire pain relievers through more than one doctor, whereas younger individuals were more likely to acquire them from friends, relatives or drug dealers.
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FDA Strengthens MI and CVA Risks Associated with NSAIDs
FDA announced yesterday they would strengthen warnings stating that non-aspirin nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs increase the chance of a heart attack or stroke. This applies to both prescription and OTC NSAIDs.
Read ArticleHealth Canada Issues Acetaminophen Advisory
Yesterday Health Canada announced it “is taking additional steps to minimize the risk of liver damage and improve acetaminophen safety,” citing the findings of a government review that underscored the possibility of accidental overdose.
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