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BMI at Age 20 Influences Future Risk of Low Back Pain
A nationwide, cross-sectional study of men aged 30–50 years (n=1385) examined the relationship between weight and back pain over time.
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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.
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Enthesitis Ultrasound as an Outcome Measure in Spondyloarthritis
Musculoskeletal ultrasound (US) was recently used in a longitudinal study Achilles enthesis of 146 patients with early spondyloarthritis (SpA). Usual measures of SpA activity included BASFI, BASRI-spine, BASDAI and Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score (ASDAS).
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Cancer Risk Is Both Increased and Decreased in RA
Rheumatoid arthritis patients are often said to have no or a low risk of cancer.
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Statins Improve CV risk in RA
Since publication of the Jupiter trial that showed statin effects may include the lowering of C-reactive protein levels and inflammation, there have been several efforts to study the adjunctive effects of statins in rheumatoid arthritis treatment.
Read ArticleMinority of Nonradiographic-Axial SpA Patients will Progress to Ankylosing Spondylitis
Wang and coworkers from the Rochester Epidemiology Project presented their findings at the annual Spondyloarthritis Research and Treatment Network.(SPARTAN) in Denver, CO.
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Safety 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 ArticleCDC Report: 22% of USA Population is Disabled
CDC has released the findings of its 2013 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), with 5 questions addressing different forms of disability - vision, cognition, mobility, self-care, and independent living. Overall, 22.2% of U.S. adults (53,316,677 persons) reported any disability.
Read ArticleB cell Inhibition with Epratuzumab Fails in Two Phase III Lupus Trials
Targeting B cells in systemic lupus erythematosus, the prototypic autoimmune disorder, has long been an attractive target for researchers. Despite negative trials with rituximab and the limited success of belimumab, efforts to inhibit B cell activity have continued.
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Men and Blacks Undertreated for Osteoporosis
Using claims data from 36,965 patients in an Indiana database, researchers found women (OR 1.86) and non-black patients (OR 1.52) were more likely to be treated (p<0.001) for osteoporosis.
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Tacrolimus Tops Other DMARDs as Induction Therapy for Lupus Nephritis
Metanalysis of nine clinical trials and 972 lupus patients examined the comparative efficacy of tacrolimus, mycophenolate (MMF) and cyclophosphamide (CYC) as induction therapy for lupus nephritis.
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Long term Denosumab Use Shows Favorable Outcomes: Results from the FREEDOM Extension Trial
Osteoporosis is a disease characterized by increased bone loss that outpaces the grown of new bone. As a result bones become less dense and more fragile and brittle; porous bones are more prone to fracture.
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Increasing Age May Increase Miscarriage Risk in RA
At EULAR 2015, Brouwer and colleagues reported on their cohort of 162 evaluable pregnancies in 239 Dutch women enrolled during 2002-2010 in the nationwide Pregnancy-Induced Amelioration of Rheumatoid Arthritis (PARA) study – a large prospective cohort of pregnant RA patients.
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The High Cost and Burden of Sepsis
One million people are hospitalized each year with sepsis. This is more than the number of hospitalizations for heart attack and stroke combined. Sepsis can be a particular risk for older people.
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Get Ready for ICD-10
With three months until the switch from ICD-9 to ICD-10 coding, CMS and the AMA have announced efforts to continue to help physicians get ready ahead of the October 1 deadline.
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Half of US Women are Overweight during Pregnancy
Obesity is associated with adverse outcomes in pregnancy, especially with higher rates of infertility and miscarriage.
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Ustekinumab Efficacy in Psoriatic Arthritis: 2 Year SUMMIT Trial Results
615 adults with active PsA were randomized to ustekinumab (45mg group or 90mg group) or placebo with crossover at 24 weeks.
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Ustekinumab Bests TNF Inhibitors for Biologic Survival in Psoriasis
Using drug survival as a global measure of a drug's effectiveness, safety and tolerability, UK investigators used a national pharmacovigilance cohort (British Association of Dermatologists Biologic Interventions Register) to compare survival rates of the first biologic used in 3,523 biologic-naiv
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FUTURE 2 Trial Shows Secukinumab to be Effective in Psoriatic Arthritis
Lancet today published the results of the phase 3, prospecitive, multinational, double-blind, randomized controlled trial of secukinumab (an anti-IL-17A monoclonal antibody) in active psoriatic arthritis.
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ACP Backs Supreme Court Decision on Obamacare
ACP has endorsed the Supreme Court ruling that the premium subsidies created by the Affordable Care Act, essential to making coverage affordable to millions, will continue to be available in states where the federal government manages their health insurance marketplaces.
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