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Risk Factors for Rheumatoid Arthritis-associated Interstitial Lung Disease
Sparks and colleagues have published a matched cohort analysis demonstrating risk factors that may augment the risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA)-associated interstitial lung disease (ILD), especially the combination of obesity, high CRP, high MD-HAQ and >30 pack-year smoking history.
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NSAID Safety with COVID-19 Infection
NSAIDs do not affect COVID outcomes; here we are nearly 16 months into the pandemic, and this is the common sense conclusion of a recent trial published in Lancet Rheumatology.
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RheumNow Podcast – Falling or Falling in Love?
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the best journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.
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Unique Oral Microbiome in Early and Pre-Clinical RA
An oral microbiome study of rheumatoid arthritis patients suggests that periodontal condition in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis and individuals at risk of RA.
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ARTIC REWIND - Don't Half DMARD Therapy
The ARTIC-REWIND study examined rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients in remission on conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARDs) to see if they could "step-down" their csDMARDs theray; but the study showed that 25% those who went on half-dose experienced disease flares
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Drug Monitoring Ineffective with Infliximab Treatment
The predictive value of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) while on biologics is debateable; gastroenterology routinely relies on TDM, while rheumatologists do not.
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RheumNow Podcast – Uppers and Downers
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com.
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Predictors of Methotrexate Toxicity
A metanalysis showed that while adverse events (AEs) are common when methotrexate is used in rheumatoid arthritis or inflammatory arthritis patients, serious AEs ranged from 2.1 to 9.5% and drug discontinuations ranged from 6.7% to 15.5%, mostly due to gastrointestinal events.
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RheumNow Podcast – Coconspirators: RA and Lung Disease
Dr. Jack Cush reviews and discusses more than a dozen news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.
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BSRBR: Demyelinating Disease Following Anti-TNFα Therapy
Analysis of patients receiving anti–tumor necrosis factor α (TNFi) therapy in the British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Register (BSRBR) shows that the risk of demyelination is rare but is marginally incrased by taking TNFi therapy.
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Increased Risk of COPD in ACPA+ Pre-RA Patients
The lung and its pathology is uniquely tied to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and its pathogenesis. A new study shows that elevation of anti–citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPAs) before diagnosis of RA increases the risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and/or asthma.
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NICE Guidelines on Chronic Pain Management
In the United Kingdom, where it is estimated that chronic pain affects one‑third to one‑half of the population, NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) has recently released an updated guideline on the management of chronic pain for people aged 16 years and over.
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DMARD Dropouts During COVID-19
A full year from the onset of the SARS-COV-2 pandemic, rheumatologists are still seeing the consequences of COVID, with many patients avoiding usual care, follow-up visits, routine lab testing and with many self-stopping their antirheumatic meds, because it seemed like the right thing to do.
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Anti-inflammatory Diet Control of Rheumatoid Arthritis
The TOMORROW study assessed the relationship between diet and disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and has shown that RA patients are more likely to have higher inflammatory diets, but that a change to an anti-inflammatory diet resulted in lower disease activity scores.
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Overview of New VEXAS Syndrome
Medscape offers up an informative overview of the newly described syndrome called VEXAS discovered by researchers at the National Institutes of Health.
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Can Targeting RANKL in RA Heal Erosions?
Treatment with denosumab (Prolia) helped heal bone erosions over 2 years among patients with rheumatoid arthritis whose disease activity was well controlled, researchers reported.
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Implementing Smoking Cessation Programs
Rheumatologists are keen to the effects of smoking (increased arthritis risk, worse outcomes, blunted DMARD responses, added cardiopulmonary risks), but often do not have the resources or plan to encourage or implement smoking cessation from the rheumatology clinic. A new study details the success of a rheumatology staff‐driven protocol, Quit Connect, to increase the rate of electronic referrals to free, state‐run tobacco quit lines.
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Rheumatology Care Derailed by COVID-19
A survey study from the ArthritisPower PPRN or CreakyJoints database shows that during the COVID-19 pandemic patient care was substantially affected in unforeseen ways.
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RheumNow Podcast – Upadacitinib Wins in PsA (4.2.2021)
Dr Jack Cush reviews the news and Journal reports and takes "Back Talk" questions from viewers.
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Inflammatory Conditions Up the Risk of Premature Myocardial Infarction
The European Journal of Preventive Cardiology reports that younger patients with their first myocardial infarction before age 50 yrs have a higher risk of having a systemic inflammatory disease (SIDs) and higher rates all-cause mortality.
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