The Journal of Rheumatology has published a nationwide survey of US rheumatologists and shown that despite trends for increasing metric assessments, nearly half of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients are not routinely assessed with a disease activity metric and the evidence they

In this Therapeutic Update, Drs. Mease, Gibofsky and Cush answer five questions regarding the August 3rd FDA Arthritis Advisory Committee meeting that reviewed the potential approval of tofacitinib (Xeljanz) in patients with active psoriatic arthritis. The panel was nearly unanimous (10-1) in favor of the efficacy and safety profile of of tofacitinib, and similarly voted 10-1 to approve this drug for use in PsA. Final decisions on these recommendations from the AAC panel will be made at a later date by the FDA. 

Dr. Jack Cush reviews highlights and news from the past week on RheumNow.com. 

Serum uric acid (SUA) levels are clearly linked to gout. Researchers from Harvard have systemically reviewed the literature to quantify the risk of onset and flare with varying levels of SUA.

Lancet reports on the analysis of 2416 studies, involving 128.9 million persons over 5 years of age shows previously rising trends in children's and adolescents' BMI have plateaued in many high-income countries, but still at high levels. 

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news from the past week on RheumNow.com. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and SoundCloud.com. 

A task force from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) performed a systematic review of the scientific literature on obstructive sleep apnea and screening tests.

A 2017 international committee of experts met to assess and revise its earlier 2012 recommendations regarding treating to target in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and axial peripheral spondyloarthritis (SpA). 

Dr. Jack Cush covers the news and journal articles published on RheumNow.comin the past week.

Reuters reports that patients who live in low-income communities and lack a college education may have worse pain after knee replacement surgery than their more educated neighbors, citing results from a recent study from the Hospital for Special Surgery in NY.

During 2017, the improvements and refinements seen during previous years in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis have been extending to other conditions ranging from psoriatic arthritis to lupus and for both monoclonal antibodies and oral small molecule medications.

The PRECISION trial reported last year that celecoxib appears to be safer than the NSAIDs naproxen or ibuprofen in treating osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis patients who are at increased cardiovascular risk. New data suggests that adding aspirin may nullify this advantage, according to a study presented at the annual American Heart Association meeting and reported by Medscape.

Researchers from the Oregon Health Science Center have reported that fibromyalgia can be distinguished from chronic pain by primary care providers (PCPs) who employ two simple screening tests: BP cuff-evoked pain and a single patient question, and pain induced by pinching the Achilles tendon.&nbs

Dr Jack Cush reviews nighlights and news from the past 2 weeks on RheumNow.com. This week's report includes new drug approvals, disappointing ACR guidelines, Lyme & Zika, infertility, dermatomyositis skin outcomes and myositis-associated cancer testing.

A new study presented at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) shows that obese people with substantial weight loss may significantly slow down the rate of joint space narrowing (cartilage degeneration) in the knee cartilage, but only if they lose weight through diet and exercise or di

JAMA Internal Medicine has reported that recommendations and clinical practice guidelines from the American College of Rheumatology are often based on expert opinion, but lack rigorous (grade A) evidence to support many of their recommendations. 

A metanalysis published in BMJ Open shows that for half of the world’s population, primary care doctor visits last less than five minutes and that the range is from 48 seconds in Bangladesh to 22.5 minutes in Sweden (US PCP visit averages at 20 minutes).

Lancet reports that a common surgical intervention, arthroscopic sub-acromial decompression is ineffective compared to arthroscopy or no surgery at all.

The Annual Meeting of the American College of Rheumatology is a gargantuan educational and professional event that is on nearly everyone's radar each year. RheumNow had an expansive effort to cover this meeting and you can review the work of our faculty at ACR17.RheumNow.com.  But we have decided to take this one step further and today we are announcing our 2017 RheumNow ACR Awards.

The American College of Rheumatology opened the 2017 meeting by inducting the new president (Dr. David Daikh) and officers and announcing its 2017 Award Winners. These recognitions are given annually to members who exhibit outstanding contributions to the field of rheumatology.