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Patient Reluctance to Take Bisphosphonates
The NY Times reports that millions of Americans with osteoporosis are driven to stop or not take bisphosphonate therapies over the fear of exceedingly rare side effects - osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) and atypical femoral fractures (AFF).
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Adalimumab Approved for Uveitis
Autoimmune ophthalmic disease is a frequent challenge to rheumatologists from both a diagnostic and therapeutic perspective. Approved therapies are limited and have only been infrequently or comfortably utilized by rheumatologists and autoimmune ophthalmologists.
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RheumNow Week in Review – 1 July 2016
Dr. Jack Cush reviews highlights from the news and social media in the past week on RheumNow.com
Checkpoint Inhibitors Causing Arthritis
A recent report from Johns Hopkins, published in the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases, describes 13 cancer patients treated with the immune checkpoint inhibitors, ipilimumab or nivolumab, who developed inflammatory arthritis and sicca syndrome.
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Tocilizumab in Pregnancy
Tocilizumab is currently listed as a Category "C" pregnancy risk based on limited pre-clinical (animal) data that was negative.
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Cancer Risk Lower with TNF inhibitors in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Since the introduction of TNF inhibitors nearly 20 years ago, concerns over a potential associated cancer risk have abounded. The recent ACR RA treatment guidelines have addressed this recently, stating that patients with any solid tumor cancer or risk thereof should be treated as if they ha
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Biologics and Fatigue in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Researchers from Bristol, UK have published a Cochrane review studying the effects of biologic therapies on fatigue.
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Hyperuricemia Increases Risk of Diabetes, Death and CV Disorders in Hypertensive Patients
While hyperuricemia is linked to gout and many of the elements that make up the metabolic syndrome, it's not so clear that hyperuricemia is an independant risk factor for hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular outcomes, etc.
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Infection Risk Increased in Giant Cell Arteritis
French researchers recruited 486 patients with giant cell arteritis (GCA) from over 40 centers throughout France, and compared their outcomes to age and sex matched individuals randomly selected from the general population. Both groups were followed for 5 years and assessed for the risk of serious infections.
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Predictors of Progression in Early Inflammatory Polyarthritis
A substantial, but unclear, percentage of patients presenting with new onset inflammatory polyarthritis (IP) will spontaneously remit, while others may persist and develop rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
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A $20 Drug Company Meal Yields 2-5 Times More Prescriptions
Accepting a single pharmaceutical industry-sponsored meal was associated with higher rates of prescribing certain drugs to Medicare patients by physicians, with more, and costlier, meals associated with greater increases in prescribing, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Me
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Steroid Use in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis Associated with Fractures
The impact of systemic glucocorticoid exposure on fracture risk among new-onset rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was studied using administrative claims data detailing the treatments and outcomes of 42,127 newly diagnosed RA patients (between 2005-2012).
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Pregnancy Complications in Primary Sjogren's
Sjogren's syndrome is a highly prevalent disorder, affecting women ten times more frequently than men. Although the typical onset follows menopause, a minority of women may develop primary Sjogren’s syndrome (pSS) during child-bearing years.
Read ArticleAMA Promotes Training in Telemedicine
Recognizing that formalized training in telemedicine is not widely offered to physicians-in-training, the American Medical Association (AMA) adopted policy during its Annual Meeting aimed at ensuring medical students and residents learn how to use telemedicine in clinical practice.
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European Registries Show No Melanoma Risk with Biologics
The combined analysis of 130,315 rheumatoid arthritis patients from 11 European registries did not reveal an association between invasive (malignant) melanoma and the use of biologic therapies.
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No Increased Risk of Colitis Flares in Secukinumab Trials
No increased incidence of inflammatory bowel disease has been seen among patients with psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, or ankylosing spondylitis treated with secukinumab (Cosentyx) in the clinical trial programs for this interleukin (IL)-17A inhibitor, a researcher reported here.
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Parathyroidectomy Improves and Bisphosphonates Worsen Fracture Risk in Primary Hyperparathyroidism
A retrospective observational study of over 6000 patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT), followed in the Kaiser-Permanente system, has shown a greater need for parathyroidectomy than was previously thought.
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Hospitalizations Decline for Rheumatoid Arthritis, But Increase in Gout
JAMA has reported the results of an 18-year National Inpatient Sample, a database of US non-federal hospitalizations.
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Patient Reluctance to Take Bisphosphonates
The NY Times reports that millions of Americans with osteoporosis are driven to stop or not take bisphosphonate therapies over the fear of exceedingly rare side effects - osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) and atypical femoral fractures (AFF).
Read Article
