The JAAD has published joint guidelines from the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) and National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF) on the approach, management and dermatolgist roles for select comorbid conditions. 

A Canadian study has shown that elderly diabetics who take allopurinol have a significant reduction in cardiovascular outcomes.  

Individuals who quit smoking and maintained their nonsmoking status over a long duration of time had a decreased risk of developing seropositive rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an analysis of two large prospective cohorts found. 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reviewed data from the Cardiovascular Safety of Febuxostat and Allopurinol in Patients with Gout and Cardiovascular Morbidities (CARES) trial and concluded there is an increased risk of death with Uloric (febuxostat) compared with allopurinol, and has added this as a boxed warning to the drug’s product label.

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

Pfizer has issued a press release regarding the safety of tofacitinib, citing higher rates of pulmonary embolism and death associated with the use of higher dose tofacitinib 10mg bid in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients treated in a long-term safety trial.  

PHAROS is a prospective cohort studying the natural history of pulmonary hypertension (PH) in systemic sclerosis (SSc). They have shown that risk factors for poor outcomes in this cohort included male sex, DLCO < 50%, exercise oxygen desaturation, and pericardial effusions. 

Dr. Jack Cush reviews this past week's news and reports from RheumNow.com:

Biologic therapy for severe psoriasis was associated with better plaque morphology and less non-calcified coronary plaque, according to a prospective, observational study.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news from RheumNow for the week ending 12/21/18.

Interactions between disease-related inflammatory processes and the development of several morbidities have been well-studied in RA, particularly heart disease. This is not the case for the often-lethal SSc (estimated standardized mortality ratio between 2.5 and 4.0).

Dr. Jack Cush updates the news and reports from the past week at RheumNow.com:

Insurance claims data were analyzed for the frequency of interstitial lung disease (ILD) associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and finds that although rare, its frequency increased over time and it is associated with a significant mortality rate. 

Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) remain at risk for accelerated atherosclerosis, and important questions have yet to be answered, British investigators reported.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news from the past week at RheumNow.com.

Subclinical myocardial inflammation is common among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and is associated with articular disease activity, researchers reported.

Methotrexate has been shown to reduce cardiovascular (CV) deaths in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Given that inflammation underlies the pathogenesis of atherothrombosis, Dr. Paul Ridker and colleagues studied the value of low dose methotrexate (MTX) in preventing cardiovascular events.

Dr Jack Cush reviews the News and Journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com.  Be sure to check out our upcoming meeting in March 2019 - RheumNow Live.

JAMA has published a large Canadian claims-based study showing that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use in patients with hypertension, heart failure, or chronic kidney disease was not associated with a significant safety risk - but this only looked at short-term outcomes (7-3

Here are a few important advances in our understanding of interstitial lung disease (ILD) from the ACR 2018 meeting last week.