The risk for cancer in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients has been inconsistently studied.  A new metanalysis shows that SLE has an increased risk for 16 specific cancers and decreased risk for prostate cancer and cutaneous melanoma. 

Sometimes patients withhold information from their doctors, and a new study suggests that as much as 60 - 80% of patients consciously omit information to their doctors, despite knowing this may bear on their health and well-being.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and new journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com:

JAMA has published the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study showing that that, from 2002 to 2016, the US burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD) increased, with some states exhibiting more than twice the burden as others.

The Gerontological Society of America has published a report calling for deprescribing as a means of managing polypharmacy in the elderly.

B-cell depletion may offer a means of delaying the onset of clinical arthritis in adults at high risk, according to the PRAIRI study - a proof-of-mechanism study in pre-clinical RA patients. 

The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF) have released a joint treatment guideline for psoriatic arthritis (PsA) that provides evidence-based pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic recommendations and includes recommendations on other management issues inclu

Researchers from MIT have developed a novel treatment for osteoarthritis (OA) by using dendrimer-based nanocarriers to deliver insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) to chondrocytes within joint cartilage and in animal models have shown when these nanocarriers injected into rat knees in models of O

Another, new Janus kinase 1 (JAK1) inhibitor is out with impressive data - this time its filgotinib, demonstrating its efficacy and safety two separate clinical trials of patients with psoriatic arthritis or ankylosing spondylitis.

Dr. Jack Cush updates the news and reports from the past week at RheumNow.com:

Insurance claims data were analyzed for the frequency of interstitial lung disease (ILD) associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and finds that although rare, its frequency increased over time and it is associated with a significant mortality rate. 

A systematic review of 238 pregabalin (Lyrica) trials for nonapproved indications shows that nearly two-thirds yielded uncertain evidence of efficacy, thereby questioning the off-label use or endorsement in clinical practice guidelines.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved Celltrion biosimilar of rituximab called Truxima; previously called CT-P10, now generically labeled as rituximab-abbs. This is the first biosimilar to the Rituxan currently approved to treat non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Truxima is not approved for use in rheumatoid arthritis, vasculitis, pemphigus vulgaris or chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Lee and a group of Korean investigators have analyzed the comparative safety of allopurinol and febuxostat in a small cohort of gout patients with fatty liver disease (FLD) and found febuxostat had a lower risk for hepatotoxicity (defined as AST or ALT at least 3× the upper limit of normal)

The CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) has reported that trazadone use in the elderly may be associated with a risk of falls and major fractures. 

Lancet has published a comparative effectiveness study examining the the value of night splints (conservative treatment) vs local injection for patients with carpal tunnel syndrome.

Lancet reports on the safety of over 1 million arthroscopic partial meniscectomies done in the United Kingdom and found a low overall risk in the first 90 days.

They examined Hospital Episode Statistics on  1,088,782 arthroscopic partial meniscectomies (1997-2017); 699 965 of which were eligible for analysis. They sought to identify complications occurring in the 90 days after the index procedure.

The first drug specifically for primary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) was approved today, the FDA announced.

The AURA-LV trial assessed voclosporin, a calcineurin inhibitor in patients with active lupus nephritis (LN) and found that low-dose voclosporin may be successfully added to mycophenolate mofetil and corticosteroids to controll active LN.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news from the past week at RheumNow.com.