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Breast Implant Study: More Worries or Not?
The Annals of Surgery reports on an anlaysis of FDA-mandated postmarket studies, including nearly 100,000 breast implant pprocedures, that showed silicone implants to be associated with higher rates of Sjögren's syndrome, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, stillbirth, and melanoma.
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Mediterranean Diet Reduces Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis
High adherence to a Mediterranean diet appears to be associated with a lower risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), especially in men and those who are seropositive, according to a study published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.
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Out of Pocket Costs for Biosimilars - No Savings So Far
JAMA has published an analysis showing that under Medicare Part D, RA biosimilar infliximab-dyyb was only moderately less expensive (18% less) than the biologic infliximab and, owing to differences in gap discounts, the out of pocket costs for the biosimilar was nearly $1700 more than infliximab
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Cutting Oral JAK 1/2 Inhibitor Dose an Option in RA
Many patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who achieved sustained disease control with baricitinib (Olumiant) treatment were able to reduce their daily dose from 4 mg to 2 mg and maintain their response, a double-blind substudy of a long-term extension trial found.
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ACR Releases State-by-State Rheumatic Disease Report Card
The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) today released the Rheumatic Disease Report Card: Raising the Grade on Rheumatology Care in America, a first-of-its-kind report that evaluates just how difficult it can be to live well with a rheumatic disease in the United States.
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Tocilizumab Equals other Biologics in Cardiovascular Risk
An odd side effect of several new agents is the risk of hyperlipidemia. While this has been seen with tocilizumab (TCZ), there does not appear to be a resultant risk of cardiovascular (CV) events. A study of claims data compared CV risk in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients receiving TOC (an IL6 receptor antagonists) and other biologics and found no differences with regard to CV outcomes.
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New BSR Guidelines on Biologic Safe Use with Inflammatory Arthritis
The British Society of Rheumatology has produced a set of NICE accredited guidelines for the use of biologic therapies in patients with inflammatory arthritis.
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Treatment Preferences in Still’s Disease
In July 2018, RheumNow launched a “Live Vote” survey of US and non-US rheumatologists that asked how they diagnose and treat systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA), also known as “Still’s disease”. It appears that many prefer to start therapy with an IL-1 inhibitor, after a course of steroids and MTX/DMARD. Yet, these findings suggest there are significant unmet needs in the diagnosis and management of sJIA patients.
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The Safety of Paternal Exposure to DMARDs and Biologics
Pregnancy and drug safety is a complex issue, often with limited informatoin about maternal drug exposure on the offspring. Greater uncertainty exists when considering whether paternal exposure may also influence fetal outcomes.
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2018-2019 ACIP Recommendations for Seasonal Influenza Vaccination
The current issue of the CDC's MMWR reviews the new seasonal recommendations for vaccination against influenza. This is an update to the previous recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).
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Dietary Recommendations for Psoriatic Disease
A systematic review by the Medical Board of the National Psoriasis Foundation examined the role of diet in managing adult patients with psoriasis and/or psoriatic arthritis and suggest that dietary interventions to reduce disease severity.
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ACR Meets With HHS Secretary Azar to Discuss Step Therapy Concerns
Yesterday, the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) met with U.S.
Read ArticleEarly Exposure to Passive Smoke May Up Risk for RA Later in Life
Exposure to second-hand smoke during childhood was associated with an increased risk for developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA) later in life, researchers said.
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Managing Comorbidity and Poor Drug Responses
Comorbidity is pervasive and complicates medical care in general. It can be a by-product of aging. It may result from drug therapy or an inciting disease process and may be part of the constellation that defines the primary disorder. A growing body of evidence that suggests that comorbidity has a significant dampening effect on drug responsiveness and, adds to poorer outcomes in patients with inflammatory arthritis.
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Tumor Necrosis Factor Inhibitors Do Not Increase the Risk of Cancer Recurrence
There is a large body of data that shows tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) use in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) confers the same risk as that seen in RA - meaning there is no increase over and above that incurred by inflammation and RA itself. There are fewer studies about whether it is s
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Success of Stopping Depends on the Biologic
The type of biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD) being used and remission duration were important factors predicting whether remission was maintained among patients with rheumatoid arthritis after cessation of the biologic, a Japanese study found.
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Cardiovascular Benefits of Maintaining Biologic Therapy
An Australian prospective study of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) has shown that sustained use of tumour necrosis factor (TNFi) inhibitors or biologics can reduce the risks of cardiovascular events (CVEs).
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The RheumNow Week in Review – No Good Gout (8.10.18)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and latest journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com. Info on Surgery and Hip Fractures, Gout drugs abandoned, Allopurinol escalation, hydroxychloroquine drug levels, how to treat scleroderma in India and exactly who gets back pain.
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Early Hip Fracture Surgery Reduces Mortality
CMAJ reports that seniors are more likely to survive a hip fracture if the surgery is done as soon as they’re admitted to the hospital - suggesting hospitals should expedite operating room access for patients whose surgery has already been delayed for nonmedical reasons.
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Higher Infection Rates for Infliximab in Psoriasis
A prospective study of psoriasis patients from the British Association of Dermatologists Biologic Interventions Register demonstrated that infliximab therapy yielded 2-3 times more serious infection than seen in those treated with non-biologic DMARDs or methotrexate (MTX).
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