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Liver Management in Rheumatoid Arthritis - RNL2021 Highlight
While rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is not known to affect the liver directly, underlying liver disease and treatment-related effects on the liver can often become an obstacle in the management of many RA patients. In his Sunday presentation at RNL2021, Dr.
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Rheumatic Patients Are at Risk for COVID Death
Patients with rheumatic diseases who developed COVID-19 were at increased likelihood of death, with risk factors similar to those seen in the general population but also because of factors specific to their underlying disease and its treatment, analysis of data from an international registry foun
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RheumNow Podcast – Listener Questions (3.12.2021)
Dr Jack Cush reviews the news, Journal reports, CDC guidelines and viewer questions from the last week on RheumNow.com
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Low Anaphylaxis Risk with COVID mRNA Vaccines
JAMA reports a safety survey of hospital employees showing that the risk of anaphylaxis from mRNA vaccines is 2.47 per 10,000 individuals.
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COVID-19-Related Deaths in Rheumatic Disease Patients
There is a growing body of evidence regarding COVID-19 outcomes (including death) in rheumatic disease patients; analysis of a German registry shows that poor control, rituximab, sulfasalazine and other immunosuppressives could be risk factors for COVID-related death.
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Comparison of Three Coronavirus Vaccines
On Feb. 27, the Food and Drug Administration announced it has issued an emergency use authorization for Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose Covid vaccine, making it the third COVID-19 vaccine to be commercially available. We've compiled a comparison table and some key information relevant to your delivering patient guidance henceforth.
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CDC: Interim Guidance for COVID Vaccinated People
Among 330 million Americans, roughly 32.1 million have been fully vaccinated and 61.1 million have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine (as of March 8th).
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RheumNow Podcast – Pounds of Prevention (3.5.2021)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews and discusses nearly a dozen news reports and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.
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Baricitinib Therapy in Covid-19 Pneumonia
The NEJM has published the results of the ACCT-2 Study, a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial evaluating baricitinib, an inhibitor of Janus kinase 1 (JAK1) and JAK2, plus remdesivir in hospitalized adults with Covid-19. The primary outcome was the time to recovery.
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ACR Promotes New COVID-19 Vaccine Clinical Guidance for Rheumatic Patients
The American College of Rheumatology has published a draft guidance on the use of COVID-19 vaccination in rheumatic disease and musculoskeletal disease patients, based on the efforts of the North American Task force. The document provides guidance to rheumatology providers on the use of the COVID-19 vaccine and the associated management of RMD patients around the time of vaccination. Here is a summary of the recommendations.
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Comorbidity and Drugs Drive COVID-19 Severity and Survival in Rheumatic Disease
While comorbidities are associated with severe COVID-19 infection, it appears they also influence severity and survival in rheumatic disease (RMD), according to a a French cohort study,
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IVIg in MIS-C
Among children with multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C), treatment with IVIG and methylprednisolone vs IVIG alone was associated with a more favorable fever course. MIS-C is a rare but serious pediatric condition associated with COVID-19 where different body parts can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs.
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Hydroxychloroquine Fails to Prevent COVID-19
There is a preponderance and mounting evidence that hydroxychloroquine is ineffective in COVID-19 infection; and now the NEJM reports a the results of a trial where HCQ given as post-COVID exposure therapy failed to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection or symptomatic Covid-19 in healthy persons.
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Adverse Events with Anti-malarials during the COVID Pandemic
For a variety of reasons, the use of anti-malarials (chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine) rose dramatically in the pandemic; notable was the lack of proven benefit and the dramatic risk in reported adverse drug reactions (ADRs) associated with these drugs being used to treat SARS-CoV-2.
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Calculating Serious Infection Risk in IMID Patients
Predictive modeling of data derived from the DANBIO registry (of treated IMID patients) revealed a 4 fold increased risk of serious infection (SIE) in those starting biologic DMARD (bDMARD) treatment. From this large dataset, researchers developed a simple prediction model to estimate future infection risk that may inform shared decision-making in individual patients.
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High Placebo Responses in SLE Trials
A systematic review by Urowitz and colleagues examined placebo responses in randomized controlled trials of non-renal, non-neuropsychiatric SLE patients showing unexpectedly high placebo responses; with more than one-third of the placebo-treated SLE patients responding by validated outcome measures.
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Protective Effects of Colchicine in Non-Hospitalized COVID-19
A press release from Montreal Heart Institute announced that the COLCORONA clinical trial provided evidence of the protective effect of colchicine; demonstrating a 21% reduced risk of death or hospitalizations in patients with COVID-19 compared to placebo. COLCORONA trial was a contact-less, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 4,488 non-hospitalized patients from Canada, the U.S., Europe, South America and South Africa.
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RheumNow Podcast – Don’t Hold the Benlysta, Take the Vaccine (1.22.2021)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com, with more than a dozen items to discuss on this week's podcast.
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