Obesity is an incidental comorbidity in psoriatic arthritis (PsA). It is a modifiable, mechanistically active driver of disease onset, severity, and treatment failure. A new comprehensive review in RMD Open (Madsen et al., 2026) synthesizes 49 studies suggesting that weight management belongs in the core PsA treatment algorithm.

The Washington Post published a patient overview on "what Prednisone does to your body".

That promised land of substantive weight loss comes within it the illusion of better disease control and, for inflammatory arthritis patients, the possibility of reducing the burden of regular medicines - often driven by the patient, with or without telling you. It is a dream worth aspiring to and, as we’ve discussed this month, one which is increasingly achievable, albeit still for a small minority of patients. So for those who do reach that ultimate goal, what next?

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has published the results of the SUN Project study, showing that long-term adherence to a Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) was associated with a substantially lower risk of incident rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but not psoriasis. 

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from this past week on RheumNow.com.

Gabapentin use jumped quickly in Michigan after the drug was removed from the state's controlled substance schedule in 2024, a cross-sectional study showed.

A real world analysis of drug use in giant cell arteritis (GCA) patients shows that despite intending to taper patients off glucocorticoids (GC) by 24 months, 75% remained on GCs for ≥ 48 months.

The Endocrine Society has published a scientific statement reframing obesity as a heterogeneous, chronically dysregulated fat-mass disorder, the biology of which is being tested effectively by GLP-1/GIP receptor agonists. Is this precision-medicine? We await long-term safety data, while assessing the outcomes in rheumatic and musculoskeletal disorders.