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Hip Replacement Surgery After Age 90
Potentially modifiable comorbid conditions and complications have a major impact on the risks of total hip arthroplasty (THA) for people in their nineties, reports a study in The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery.
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Before You Know It (8.25.2023)
Dr. Jack Cush comments on the news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com: VEXAS scoring, scleroderma sine scleroderma and head scratchers from southeast Asia.
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Biologic Adherence and Drug Survival in RA Patients
A real-world rheumatoid arthritis (RA) cohort study from Israel shows significant variability of drug survival using biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatics drugs (bDMARDs) and targeted synthetic DMARDs (tsDMARDs).
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ACR Guidelines for Interstitial Lung Disease in Patients with Rheumatic Conditions
The American College of Rheumatology released summaries of two new guidelines for the Screening and Monitoring of Interstitial Lung Disease in People with Systemic Autoimmune Rheumatic Disease and for the Treatment of Interstitial Lung Disease in People with Systemic Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases.
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WSJ: Do Younger or Older Doctors Get Better Results?
A recent Wall St. Journal essay (by AB Jena and C Worsham) suggests that a physician’s effectiveness has less to do with age than with how many patients they see and how well they stay up to date on research.
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2023 EULAR Recommendations for Imaging in Large Vessel Vasculitis
EULAR has published its expert consensus regarding the recommendations for imaging in the most common types of large vessel vasculitis (LVV) -- giant cell arteritis (GCA) and Takayasu arteritis (TAK).
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Fracture Risk Quantified for Older Spondyloarthritis Patients
Medicare beneficiaries with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) incur frequent bone fractures, a new study indicated, with the risk boosted by some unsurprising factors but also including one that was not expected.
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15% of the World Population has Osteoarthritis
The Lancet reports a new study revealing that the most common form of arthritis, osteoarthritis, affects 15% of the global population over the age of 30.
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Cardiovascular Disease Precedes ANCA-associated Vasculitis
A nested case–control study from the Danish Nationwide Registries finds an increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) disease in the months preceding diagnosis of ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV).
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Manifestations of Systemic Sclerosis Sine Scleroderma
Systemic sclerosis (SSc) sine scleroderma is a unique and rare subset of SSc defined by the absence of skin fibrosis. An analysis of the EUSTAR database suggests systemic disease can be a problem, including interstitial lung disease (>40%) and SSc renal crisis (almost 3%).
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Mono- and Oligo- are Different (8.18.2023)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from RheumNow.com this past week.
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COSMOS: Guselkumab's Immunologic Benefits in Psoriatic Arthritis
The IL-23 inhibitor guselkumab was studied in active psoriatic arthritis patients in the phase 3b COSMOS trial, and shown to be clinically effective while reducing multiple effector cytokines, including those associated with the IL-23/IL-17 pathway.
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Imaging Mass Cytometry to Study Lupus Nephritis
Lupus researchers from the University of Houston are reporting the first use of the powerful imaging mass cytometry to examine the kidneys of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, as a means of diagnosing lupus nephritis in SLE patients. LN is a severe inflammation of the kidneys and a major cause of death in lupus patients. Up to 60% of SLE patients will develop renal symptoms with 5–20% of those patients progressing to end stage kidney disease within 10 years.
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Residual Disease in Controlled Axial Spondyloarthritis
Despite being in a state of remission or low disease activity state, in patients with axial spondyloarthritis, up to 42% may still have residual disease.
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Stable Safety Outcomes with Abatacept
The safety of abatacept was studied using patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) from 7 European registers, revealing safety signals on par with that previously reported with no new safety concerns.
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The Adalimumab Biosimilar Glut
In 2023, three marketed biosimilars (Actemra, Stelara, Humira) had their patents expire, opening opportunities for multiple new biosimilars; but with competition comes a word salad of new drug names, confusion and nonsensical discounts.
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Glucocorticoid Affects Weight, but not Blood Pressure in RA
A pooled analysis of 5 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) shows that the effects of 2 years of low-dose glucocorticoid (GC) treatment in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) can significantly increase increase body weight, but not blood pressure.
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Monoarticular JIA - a Distinct Clinical Entity
Monoarticular Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (monoJIA) is typically classified under oligoarticular JIA, but a recent study suggests it is a separate entity.
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Pizza and Rheumatoid Arthritis (8.11.2023)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from the wonderful wide world of Rheumatology. This week:
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PRESTO Tool Predicts the Risk of Psoriatic Arthritis
In research published in Arthritis & Rheumatology, investigators developed and validated a tool called PRESTO that identif
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