Zhang and colleagues from Boston analyzed patients with physician diagnosed sleep apnea from The Health Improvement Network in the UK and compared these with 5 controls (age, sex, BMI matched). They studied 9,865 patients with sleep apnea and 43,598 controls.

UK investigators have shown that rheumatoid arthritis patients with bronchiectasis (BRRA) have a five-fold increased mortality compared to RA without bronchiectasis. It is unclear if serologic differences, activity measures and biomarkers may be different in this cohort.

Nearly 2 weeks have passed since the painful launch of ICD-10 in US medical practices.

A new JAMA study shows new onset back pain treated with physical therapy yields modest short-term (3 months) improvement. 

From 2003 to 2013, the percentage of nonmedical use of prescription opioids decreased among adults in the U.S., while the prevalence of prescription opioid use disorders, frequency of use, and related deaths increased, according to a study in the October 13 issue of JAMA.

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a common extra-articular manifestation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Its presence may portend grave outcomes for those affected. The prevalence of ILD in RA ranges from 7.7% to 44% depending on the assessment tools used.

Treat-to-target is a common management strategy for rheumatoid arthritis that aims to employ the strategy most effective in terms of achievement of optimal therapeutic outcomes in RA.

Deloitte published its 2015 Healthcare Consumer Survey to examine online resource and technology use by patients. This is important, as the health care industry has expanded the development of online information resources, mobile applications, and personal health devices.

An analysis of 741,589 patients over age 45 years from southern Swedish registry examined patients who were followed (between 1998 and 2012) until a hip fracture, death or exit from the region occurred.

Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH) is a rare but catastrophic complication of systemic lupus erythematosus. Presentations are usually acute and the potential for significant morbidity and mortality risk mandates early diagnosis and aggressive interventions.

The range of categories and diagnostic possibilities is astronomical with the new ICD-10 and its 68,000 codes.

Tight control in rheumatoid arthritis was introduced with the TICORA trial and validated in numerous treat-to-target studies since. Now the benefits of tight control in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) have been reported.

The health consequences of fructose-containing sugars, sucrose and high fructose corn syrup, found in sugar-sweetened beverages and foods, may be numerous and include obesity, type 2 diabetes, gout and cardiovascular disease.

ICD-10 starts tomorrow, October 1st. Your Coding memory will have to increase 5-fold or more as we go from 16,000 to 68,000 new ICD-10 codes. How this will affect each of us remains to be seen. There’s a lot to learn, and many wonder if this will be the next “Y2K”.

RheumNow is committed to reporting safety issues in our monthly Drug Safety Bulletins. Each month we will update you with reports of new, ongoing and resolved Drug Shortages that will affect the practicing rheumatologist.

Diet has long been considered a potential risk factor for the onset or pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthris. Obesity and the microbiome are being intensively studied as risk factors for RA.

The ACR and SPARTAN (Spondyloarthritis Research and Treatment Network) has worked together to study 57 specific treatment questions regarding AS and SpA.  The following guidelines have recently been published after conducting systematic literature reviews.

On October 1st, your coding memory will be getting a big and unwelcomed upgrade.

Even if the goverment shuts down, ICD-10 implementation goes forward.

Below are several sources to review what's ahead and what you should be focused on at this point.

Study 329 was published in 2001, and became a pivotal study for the anti-depressant drug Paxil (paroxetine). In 2002, over 2 million prescriptions were written for Paxil.

Dozens of medical societies pressed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to temporarily halt implementation of the final stage of Meaningful Use, a program that rewards and penalizes clinicians based on how effectively they use electronic medical records.