The PRECISION study will be presented on Tuesday, November 15, 2016 by Dr. Elaine Husni from the Cleveland Clinic. This report brings to a climax the controversy ignited by the February 2005 3 day FDA Arthritis Advisory Committee review of the safety of the blockbuster COX-2 inhibitors, celecoxib, rofecoxib, and valdecoxib.

RA increases CV risk considerably. But whose responsibility is it to manage CV risk in RA patients?

It has been long known that rheumatoid arthritis is associated with an increased mortality rate, especially in seropositive patients and those with extraarticular manifestations.

The current JAMA Pediatrics issue has published a report showing that adjunctive corticosteroid therapy yielded significantly fewer coronary artery complications compared with intravenous immunoglobulin therapy alone, particularly among high-risk patients with Kawasaki disease.

BMJ has reported the results of a case-control study that analyzed the risk of hospitalization from heart failure associated with the use of NSAIDs amongst healthcare databases from four European countries (the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom).

There are numerous health hazards associated with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), including an increased risk of cardiovascular events.

Although cardiovascular disease and complications have been well-described in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the association between SLE and heart failure (HF) remains undefined.

High mobility group box chromosomal protein 1 (HMGB1) is a DNA-binding protein that functions as a structural co-factor. HMGB1 is actively secreted by macrophage/monocytes via inflammatory stimuli and is elaborated during apoptosis.

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

Tobacco and chronic smoking is a major risk factor for the onset of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and chronic smoking has been linked to severity of disease and lower DMARD response rates.

Dr Jack Cush reviews this week's highlights from RheumNow.com.

The results of the faSScinate trial were published in Lancet showing that treatment with Actemra (tocilizumab) resulted in a reduction in skin thickness and an improvement in lung function in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc).

A Finnish early RA register studied 14,878 incident RA patients from 2000-2008 and identified 1157 deaths. Patients receiving DMARDs and MTX had lower mortality rates. The standardized mortality ratio for the entire cohort was reduced (0.57, 95% CI 0.52 to 0.62).

I was truly stunned when it was announced that Glenn Frey, from the Eagles, had died as a result of complications from his rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis and pneumonia.

While hyperuricemia is linked to gout and many of the elements that make up the metabolic syndrome, it's not so clear that hyperuricemia is an independant risk factor for hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular outcomes, etc.

Prevalent patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) face a 30–50% increased risk of acute coronary, cerebrovascular, and thromboembolic events compared with the general population.

Dr. Cush reviews highlights from this week on RheumNow.com.

Mechanisms underlying the pulmonary fibrosis of systemic sclerosis are poorly understood, yet are the focus of both research and new drug development. 

Women with a history of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) are more than twice as likely as those without this condition to be diagnosed with heart disease, according to the results of a new study.

The results of the faSScinate trial were published in Lancet showing that treatment with Actemra (tocilizumab) resulted in a reduction in skin thickness and an improvement in lung function in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc).