All News
Shingles Risk with JAK Inhibitors and Other Biologics
Registry data suggests an increased risk of herpes zoster (HZ, shingles) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients taking JAK inhibitors (JAKi) but also with other biologic DMARDs, compared to csDMARDs.
Read Article
Links:
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Combo Methotrexate and Leflunomide Safety in RA
Methotrexate and leflunomide (LEF) are the most widely prescribed DMARDs worldwide; yet biologic DMARDs are the newest and best selling agents for rheumatoid arthritis worldwide.
Read Article
Cardiovascular Prevention Lacking in Rheumatoid Arthritis
An increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in rheumatoid arthritis is well known and feared but an RA cohort study suggests that preventive medication use in RA patients lags behind that seen in diabetes mellitus (DM).
Read Article
Links:
Rheumatoid Poor Outcomes Not Linked to Comorbidity
Disease activity leads to poor outcomes; but does comorbidity add to this? A recent analysis suggests that while comorbidities do not affect long-term, functional outcomes, sociodemographic factors do affect outcomes in rheumatoid Arthritis (RA).
Read Article
DMARD Effects on COVID-19 Outcomes
Sparks and colleagues have published data from the Global Rheumatology Alliance noting that among rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients afflicted with COVID-19 infection, there was little influence of their baseline biologic or targeted synthetic (b/ts) disease-modifying antirheumatic drug
Read Article
RheumNow Podcast – World Going to Pot (7.23.2021)
Bicycles, Tramadol, biologics - these are but a few of my favorites things in today's broadcast. Join me as I review the news and journal articles from this past week on RheumNow.com.
Read Article
Fracture Risk with Low Dose Steroid
A large RA cohort analysis shows that low-dose glucocorticoid therapy in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients may carry an increased risk of vertebral osteoporotic (OP) fractures.
Read Article
Tofacitinib Efficacy in Ankylosing Spondylitis
Deodhar and colleagues have published the results of a study showing that in adult patients with active ankylosing spondylitis (AS), oral tofacitinib was effective (versus placebo) and is safe.
Read Article
Growing Cannabis Use in Arthritis Patients
The National Databank for Rheumatic Diseases reports a significant increased in cannabis use amongst arthritis patients between 2014-2019, suggesting patients are more frequently engaged in self-management of pain and the unmet need for a pain relieving, opioid-sparing alternative.
Read Article
Links:
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
FDA Approves IVIG in Dermatomyositis
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Octagam 10% [Immune Globulin Intravenous (Human)], as the first and only intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) formulation to be approved for adult dermatomyositis (DM).
Read Article
Canakinumab Fails to Improve COVID-19 Survival
JAMA has published the findings of trial wherein the anti–interleukin-1β antibody canakinumab (CAN) failed to improve survival in patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19.
Read Article
ACR/Vasculitis Foundation Guideline for Giant Cell Arteritis and Takayasu Arteritis
The ACR and the Vasculitis Foundation have published their evidence-based recommendations and expert guidance for the management of GCA and Takayasu arteritis. These recommendations address a variety of clinical questions and scenarios including diagnostic testing, imaging, treatments, and surgical interventions. Recommendations for GCA and TAK include support for the use of glucocorticoid-sparing immunosuppressive agents and the use of imaging to identify large vessel involvement. Recommendations for TAK include the use of glucocorticoids as initial therapy.
Read Article
Links:
Links:
Links:
Links:
Impact of Nail Psoriasis on Psoriatic Arthritis
Mease and colleagues have shown that psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients with nail involvement have worse disease and outcomes than those without nail psoriasis.
Read Article