Feldman and coworkers have analyzed US Medicaid claims data from 9,600 hydroxychloroquine and 3,829 new immunosuppressive new users with a diagnosis of SLE.

Sleep disruption is a core feature of fibromyalgia. People with fibromyalgia exhibit sleep brain wave patterns often disrupted by brain waves that correspond to wakefulness. 

Rheumatoid arthritis patients are often said to have no or a low risk of cancer.

Smoking is a well-known inciting or exacerbating factor in many inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Rituximab has been used for years with good efficacy, but with several safety concerns. Van Vollenhoven and colleagues have published the cumulative clinical trial safety experience of RTX wherein 3595 patients 1–20 (average - 4) courses over 11 years [14,816 patient-years (PY)].

A cross-sectional survey of 309 Brazilan rheumatologists was performed to assess their compliance with the 2012 ACR guidelines on gout.

Your patient with Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis has a musculoskeletal problem that needs treatment. You consider a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, but are reminded that “NSAIDs are to be avoided as these drugs will worsen inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)”.

Different Phenotypes for Osteoarthritis of the Foot. Osteoarthritis is often characterized as either a symmetric polyarticular (often involving DIPs, PIPs and CMC1), asymmetric oligoarticular or monarticular (knee or hip OA), but OA may also affect the foot.

Methotrexate was first introduced in 1955 for leukemia and in 1986 became FDA approved for the treatment of adults with severe, active, rheumatoid arthritis or children with active polyarticular-course juvenile RA.

In reviewing submitted abstracts for the 2014 ACR meeting, I was surprised by several abstracts focusing on neutropenia in patients receiving rituximab.

Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) are first line defense tools used to trap microbial pathogens.

Since publication of the Jupiter trial that showed statin effects may include the lowering of C-reactive protein levels and inflammation, there have been several efforts to study the adjunctive effects of statins in rheumatoid arthritis treatment.

In July 2015, RheumNow published 73 tweets about impactful news, research and teaching points that I feel will have an impact on the rheumatology community. We had a reach (impressions) of 49,900, 63 mentions, and 1277 visits to RheumNow.com to check out what we publish.

Despite Amgen's withdrawal as a co-developer of brodalumab, the anti-IL17A monoclonal antibody, AstraZeneca has announced it will push its plan to develop the drug. Brodalumab is currently in phase III trials for use in psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis.

An estimated 250 people have filed lawsuits against Lilly claiming the company failed to warn users of Cymbalta that they may suffer withdrawal symptoms if the drug was stopped abruptly, including suicidal thoughts and electric shock-like sensations.

JAMA reports that investigators from the University of Wisconsin in Madison studied the impact of vitamin D supplements on 230 women who were at least five years past menopause but no older than 75, and without osteoporo

Little is known about what happens when NSAIDs are used in patients with chronic kidned disease (CKD), especially those with hypertension.

Targeting B cells in systemic lupus erythematosus, the prototypic autoimmune disorder, has long been an attractive target for researchers. Despite negative trials with rituximab and the limited success of belimumab, efforts to inhibit B cell activity have continued.

Using a metagenome-wide association study (MGWAS) of fecal, dental and salivary samples from rheumatoid arthritis and healthy controls, Zhang et al showed that gut and oral microbiomes are highly concordant and that in RA there is a distinct dysbiosis with less Haemophilus spp.

Placebos are necessary to determine the “true effect” of any medical intervention. As such, they have become the cornerstone of evidence-based medicine, randomized controlled clinical trials and novel drug development.