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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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Post-Approval Exploratory Trials with Pregabalin Often Fail
A systematic review of 238 pregabalin (Lyrica) trials for nonapproved indications shows that nearly two-thirds yielded uncertain evidence of efficacy, thereby questioning the off-label use or endorsement in clinical practice guidelines.
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Hepatic Safety of Urate Lowering Therapies in Gout
Lee and a group of Korean investigators have analyzed the comparative safety of allopurinol and febuxostat in a small cohort of gout patients with fatty liver disease (FLD) and found febuxostat had a lower risk for hepatotoxicity (defined as AST or ALT at least 3× the upper limit of normal)
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Diagnosing Early Lupus from Mimics
A multicenter study of early systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients examined manifestations at disease onset and found that certain clinical features can help to distinguish early SLE from other SLE‐mimicking conditions.
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High CV Risk in Lupus
Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) remain at risk for accelerated atherosclerosis, and important questions have yet to be answered, British investigators reported.
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Trazodone High Risk of Falls and Fractures
The CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) has reported that trazadone use in the elderly may be associated with a risk of falls and major fractures.
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Steroid Injection Superior to Splinting in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Lancet has published a comparative effectiveness study examining the the value of night splints (conservative treatment) vs local injection for patients with carpal tunnel syndrome.
Read ArticleAURA-LV Trial - Voclosporin Effective in Lupus Nephritis
The AURA-LV trial assessed voclosporin, a calcineurin inhibitor in patients with active lupus nephritis (LN) and found that low-dose voclosporin may be successfully added to mycophenolate mofetil and corticosteroids to controll active LN.
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The RheumNow Podcast – Heartbreak of Methotrexate (11.16.18)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news from the past week at RheumNow.com.
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Pre-Diabetes Associated Risk for Arthritis, Obesity and Physical Inactivity
The current MMWR reports that arthritis is seen in nearly one-third of adults with prediabetes and that more than half of such patients are obese and not engaged in regular physical activity.
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CIRT Trial - Methotrexate Fails at Cardiovascular Prevention
Methotrexate has been shown to reduce cardiovascular (CV) deaths in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Given that inflammation underlies the pathogenesis of atherothrombosis, Dr. Paul Ridker and colleagues studied the value of low dose methotrexate (MTX) in preventing cardiovascular events.
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Intensive Patient Education Does Not Improve Low Back Pain Care
JAMA reports on a randomized clinical trial of 202 adults with acute low back pain showing the addition of intensive patient education failed to improve pain outcomes.
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IgG4-Related Disease: First Draft Criteria Presented at ACR 2018
As Dr. John Stone, MD, MPH recounted in his presentation regarding the new ACR/EULAR Classification Criteria for IgG4-Related Disease (IgG4-RD), only 15 years prior, IgG4-related disease was an unknown entity in the medical community.
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Low Short-Term Risks of NSAIDs in High Risk Patients
JAMA has published a large Canadian claims-based study showing that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use in patients with hypertension, heart failure, or chronic kidney disease was not associated with a significant safety risk - but this only looked at short-term outcomes (7-3
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Late Breaker: Can Tanezumab Be Revived for OA?
The monoclonal antibody tanezumab, which blocks nerve growth factor, showed significant benefits in pain and function among patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee or hip, and rates of severe adverse joint events such as rapidly progressive OA that had plagued earlier studies were low, a re
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