All News
Early RA and the Chance of DMARD-Free Remission
Early and aggressive treatment of rheumatoid arthritis has become the mantra for most who manage the disease and hope to achieve optimal outcomes - including remission.
Read ArticleBMI at Age 20 Influences Future Risk of Low Back Pain
A nationwide, cross-sectional study of men aged 30–50 years (n=1385) examined the relationship between weight and back pain over time.
Read ArticlePoor Compliance in SLE Leads to More ER Visits and Hospitalizations
Feldman and coworkers have analyzed US Medicaid claims data from 9,600 hydroxychloroquine and 3,829 new immunosuppressive new users with a diagnosis of SLE.
Read ArticleCancer Risk Is Both Increased and Decreased in RA
Rheumatoid arthritis patients are often said to have no or a low risk of cancer.
Read ArticleMore On ICD-10
Dr. Marty Bergman (see prior article) writes to remind rheumatologists that the October 1 deadline is for the date of service. If you see the patient on September 30th, but don't bill it until October 4th, you need to use ICD-9 codes.
Read ArticleRheumatologists are Not Always Aligned with 2012 ACR Gout Guidelines
A cross-sectional survey of 309 Brazilan rheumatologists was performed to assess their compliance with the 2012 ACR guidelines on gout.
Read ArticleNSAIDs and the Risk of Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Your patient with Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis has a musculoskeletal problem that needs treatment. You consider a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, but are reminded that “NSAIDs are to be avoided as these drugs will worsen inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)”.
Read ArticleOsteoarthritis Update August 2015
Different Phenotypes for Osteoarthritis of the Foot. Osteoarthritis is often characterized as either a symmetric polyarticular (often involving DIPs, PIPs and CMC1), asymmetric oligoarticular or monarticular (knee or hip OA), but OA may also affect the foot.
Read ArticleSpecialty Society Guidelines Must Evolve to Improve
The current JAMA issue examines the process and potential flaws of society clinical practice guidelines -a timely commentary as we await the 2015 ACR RA treatment guidelines first presented at the 2014 ACR meeting in Boston and slated for upcoming publication in Arthritis & Rheumatology
Read ArticleOsteoporosis Affects One-Quarter US Women Over 65 Years
The CDC has released data from the NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) analysis of 2005-2010 data regarding the population frequency of osteoporosis and osteopenia.
Read ArticleDSB: Managing Methotrexate Toxicity
Methotrexate was first introduced in 1955 for leukemia and in 1986 became FDA approved for the treatment of adults with severe, active, rheumatoid arthritis or children with active polyarticular-course juvenile RA.
Read ArticleNIH Study Shows 11.2% of Americans in Pain
Using statistics gathered by the NIH in 2012, the National Health Interview Survey of 8781 adults showed self-reported chronic pain affects 25.3 million adults, or 11.2% of the populatoin.
Read ArticleElectronic Health Records Gets Low Scores Among Physicians
A recent survey by AmericanEHR Partners and the AMA of 940 physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners showed most physicians are dissatisfied with their EHR systems.
Read ArticleMinority of Nonradiographic-Axial SpA Patients will Progress to Ankylosing Spondylitis
Wang and coworkers from the Rochester Epidemiology Project presented their findings at the annual Spondyloarthritis Research and Treatment Network.(SPARTAN) in Denver, CO.
Read ArticleCymbalta Lawsuit Alleges Downplay of Withdrawal Symptoms
An estimated 250 people have filed lawsuits against Lilly claiming the company failed to warn users of Cymbalta that they may suffer withdrawal symptoms if the drug was stopped abruptly, including suicidal thoughts and electric shock-like sensations.
Read Article10 Year Study Identifies Predictors of Skin Progression in Systemic Sclerosis
The European Scleroderma Trials and Research (EUSTAR) cohort has reported the results of their prospective study to identify onset symptoms and risk factors for skin sclerosis and digital ulcers (DUs) in early onset systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients.
Read ArticleBidirectional Association Between Uveitis and Psoriatic Disease
A Danish population, claims-based study studied the the associations between 74,129 patients with incident psoriasis and 13,114 with incident uveitis between 1997 and 2011.
Read ArticleVitamin D Fails in Postmenopausal Osteoporosis Prevention
JAMA reports that investigators from the University of Wisconsin in Madison studied the impact of vitamin D supplements on 230 women who were at least five years past menopause but no older than 75, and without osteoporo
Read ArticleLegionella Outbreak in NYC
An outbreak of Legionnaires' disease has killed four people and sickened 65 in the Bronx section of New York City since July 10, according to New York City health officials. This Legionnaires' outbreak is now more than five times the number of cases recorded in the last outbre
Read ArticleNSAIDs are Risky in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease
Little is known about what happens when NSAIDs are used in patients with chronic kidned disease (CKD), especially those with hypertension.
Read Article