All News
The Patient Journey with Rheumatic Disease
Oton and colleagues have reviewed the "patient journey" - from symptoms to specialty referral in those diagnosed with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs).
Repurposing & Pipeline (8.8.2025)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news, reports, pipeline and drug repurposing on this week’s podcast.
Read Article
A New RA Approval (8.1.2025)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news, journal reports and a new treatment for RA from the FDA.
Read Article
CKD & Osteoporosis Rx Revisited (7.25.2025)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news, journal and FDA updates from this past week on RheumNow.com.
Read Article
Hmmm Really? (7.11.2025)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from this past week - some obvious, other new thoughts and some - hmmm, reallly?
Read Article
RCT of 2331 chronic MSK pain pts showed that telehealth Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) (health coach) superior to self-care (Pain trainer) or usual care at achieving a >30% reduction in pain (32% vs 26.6% vs 20.8% respectively) & benefits were sustained at 12 months. https://t.co/a69zPsJslH
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Pain Flares in RA are just pain, not inflammation. Study of 195 RA pts (11+ yrs dz dur), 49-89% experienced at least 1 flare (median 2-4 flares/mo), IQR 2.1-5), lasting median of 2 days. Flares preceded by worsening mood, anxiety, sleepiness - but no change in Accelerometer https://t.co/csbHtiEglp
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Pain Flares in RA are just pain, not inflammation. Study of 195 RA pts (11+ yrs dz dur), 49-89% experienced at least 1 flare (median 2-4 flares/mo), IQR 2.1-5), lasting median of 2 days. Flares preceded by worsening mood, anxiety, sleepiness - but no change in Accelerometer https://t.co/twI6wcxKf7
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Metanalysis of 35 studies, 887 participants, shows 3 consecutive nights of sleep deprivation (~4.3hr/hs) assoc w/ signif. increase in IL-6 (p < 0.01) and C-reactive protein (p = 0.03) in blood. This was not seen w/ a single night of total or partial sleep deprivation https://t.co/M60wPUbsch
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
La Paz study of 903 RA pts; 136 (14.5%) were D2T-RA, 96 for inefficacy. They define early vs Late D2T-RA=44.5 mos, & differed>> Early D2T-RA (1/3) pts more likely to have anxiety or depression (76% v 0), higher CRP @6mos, & time to develop D2TRA (35 vs 70 mos) https://t.co/KFG68y9Uq5
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
BMJ - UK population study of 1.5 million adults finds pts w/ autoimmune dz have twice the risk of affective disorders (depression, bipolar dz, anxiety) significantly higher (p<0.001) (28.8% vs 17.9% in gen. population. Signif regardless of age, sex, ethnicity, income, Fam Hx, https://t.co/dsJxkvD4Nu
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Jokes Aside: The Impact of Laughter in RA
Dr. Aurelie Najm reports on POS0685, 'The Impact of Social Frailty and Physical Function on Laughter Frequency in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients from a Multicenter Observational Study (T-FLAG)', presented at EULAR 2025 in Barcelona, https://t.co/z3tvqQmH96
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Transcranial Stimulation is Effective in Fibromyalgia
A randomized, controlled clinical trial in fibromyalgia (FM) has shown the efficacy of transcranial direct current stimulation (A-tDCS) (along with exercise and pain neuroscience education [PNE]), in alleviating the pain. https://t.co/kJk1R8ubqk
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Older adults with chronic MSK pain report lower physical health—but better mental health—than younger peers.
Fewer missed work days, too.
Is this resilience, adaptation, or shifting expectations with age?
POS0402 @RheumNow #EULAR2025
Jiha Lee JihaRheum ( View Tweet)
Presenteeism and absenteeism in RA aren’t just about joints. In this UK study, comorbid anxiety, depression, and OA drove lost productivity.
Treating RA is not enough —holistic management matters.
POS0403 @RheumNow #EULAR2025
Jiha Lee JihaRheum ( View Tweet)
The relation between RA, comorbidities and presenteism
NRAS survey 891 RA pts
75% had at least one comorbidity
Absenteeism more likely if
One OR = 1.68 or Two OR = 2.26 comorbid conditions
In particular
Anxiety OR = 2.39
Depression OR = 1.75
Osteoarthritis OR = 1.85
Back
Aurelie Najm AurelieRheumo ( View Tweet)
Why do Rheumatologists shift to private practice? Are there gender based differences?
A survey of 100+ European rheumatologists
Female 🚺 rheumatologists:
Leave hospital earlier
At a lower hierarchical level
Reasons for leaving:
nightshifts
unfair promotion decisions
Aurelie Najm AurelieRheumo ( View Tweet)
ICI-PMR irAEs are sometimes underestimated compared to inflamm arthritis, but why?
ICI-IA and ICI-PMR look different, but at @HSpecialSurgery, steroid needs and disease impact for both are basically the same. Let’s not devalue either
@lovetolearn27 #EULAR2025 POS1200 @RheumNow https://t.co/NVq2tpjvdu
Links:
David Liew drdavidliew ( View Tweet)
Depression and anxiety in PsA is higher and has more consequences than in general population
Swedish and Danish clinical registers 23000+ PsA pts
HR 1.4 specialised psychiatric out/ inpatient care vs. general pop
HR for psychiatric in patient care numerically higher but ns.
No https://t.co/qduMcwGK0S
Aurelie Najm AurelieRheumo ( View Tweet)
#D2M_axSpA_saga 🇬🇷
Prevalence of D2M axSpA in 395 patients: 10.1%
Associated factors:
🔹️High disease activity at diagnosis
🔹️Comorbidities (high BMI, smoking, depression)
🔹️Unemployment
Kougkas et al.
POS#0121
#EULAR2025
@rheumnow https://t.co/vcPcTATTx5
Nelly ZIADE 🍀 Nellziade ( View Tweet)
