An analysis of 43,706 adults from the 1999-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) demonstrated temporal trends in the prevalence of arthritis, including a rise in osteoarthritis (OA) from 6.6% to 14.3%, while the prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) decreased from 5.9%

Dr. Jack Cush reviews highlights, news and recent research published this week on RheumNow.com. This week's report includes news and education from the RWCS meeting in Maui.

The 11th annual meeting of the Rheumatology Winter Clinical Symposium (RWCS) begins today (2/7) and runs through Saturday (2/10) and features a premiere faculty delivering state-of-the-art lectures.

Biosimilars command a great deal of research, development and attention given the promise of significant cost savings and potentially wider use for those in need.  The global biosimilar market is expected to reach $36 billion USD by 2022. Here is this month's roundup of clinical trials and journal articles, overviews/reviews, practice and physician attitudes, and regulatory and pharma news - all on the subject of biosimilars.

Here are the 10 most talked about MMWR Reports of 2017. 

Dr. Jack Cush reviews highlights, news and recent research published this week on RheumNow.com. This week's report includes rising epidemiologic numbers, vaccine updates for H.

The 2018 Medscape Physician Burnout and Depression report shows that 42% of physician respondents report "burnout" and up to 15% experience some sort of depression. In a survey of 15,543 doctors from 29 specialties, they found highest burnout rates in critical care and neurologists (48%), family medicine (47%), ob/gyns and internists (46%). Lowest rates were seen in pathology and dermatology (32%), and plastic surgery (23%). 

What did rheumatologists report?

Pfizer Inc.

Researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine have published a new report showing that arthritis affected 91 million adults in the US in 2015 or 37% of the poplulation. Their prevalence estimate is 68% higher than previously reported arthritis national estimates. 

Annals of Rheumatic Disease reports that gout is associated with higher work absenteeism and thus, increased costs for society due to productivity loss.

A number of presentations over the past few days have addressed the health economics of SLE.

The  U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced on 25 October they endorsed the use of the new GSK shingles vaccine (Shingrix) over the currently available live-virus vaccine (Zostavax) from Merck. 

Using data compiled from annual reports, SEC filings, press releases, company websites, recently released sales figures show that in 2016, 11 of the top 16 rheumatology drugs demonstrated blockbuster sales (>$1 billion per annum).  Highlights from this report include:

A primary projected advantage to biosimilar drugs development has been cost savings. A new study from the RAND Corporation suggests biosimilars could cut health care spending in the United States by $54 billion over the next decade. This number is nearly 20 percent greater than a similar study conducted three years ago by the same researchers. 

The paradigm of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) therapy mandates early diagnosis and aggressive treatment.  Yet a recent cohort study has shown that RA patients with moderate to high disease activity (MHDAS) were met with infrequent DMARD adjustments; with median time to DMARD adjustment being 5 months and median time to low disease activity (LDAS) was roughly 10 months. 

Arthritis of all types in the U.S. carried an economic burden of $303.5 billion in 2013, nearly 1% of the gross domestic product that year, according to a CDC analysis.

The RheumNow Week in Review discusses the past week's news, journal articles and highlights from RheumNow.com. In this week's report, Dr. Jack Cush discusses when to hold the biologic, lymphoma risk with tofacitinib, early clues to the diagnosis of RA, biologic use in pregnancy, what's killing psoriasis patients and the 2016 top 5, best selling drugs in rheumatology.

The RheumNow Week in Review discusses the past week's news, journal articles and highlights from RheumNow.com. This week's report discusses regulatory actions by NICE and FDA, higher death rates in RA and psoriasis, increased risk of RA with Asthma, rising numbers for OA, RA, and STDs.

The CDC has reported its 2013 and 2014 prevalence statistics for arthritis and other chronic medical conditions affecting U.S. adults aged ≥18 years. Data is drawn from the ongoing Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a state-based, telephone survey of noninstitutionalized adults. Data herein is self-reported arthritis (OA, RA, Gout, FM) and is quantified by state and metropolitan areas.

A Swedish study has shown that occupational silica exposure increases the incidence rates of sarcoidosis and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in those exposed workers in Swedish iron foundries.