Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com.
In a head to head trial Upadacitinib was superior to Dupilumab in Adults With Moderate-to-Severe Atopic Dermatitis. 24wk DBRCT, 924 pts given either UPA 30/d vsDUP 300 EOW. ESI75 response@wk16, UPA 71% vs DUP 61% https://t.co/5cOoosKyao
Sporadic reports of anakinra use in COVID-19 infection has hinted is potential; now a metanalysis shows that the use of anakinra may reduce the mortality risk in patients admitted to hospital with moderate to severe COVID-19 pneumonia, especially highly elevated ferritin and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels.
Despite spending more (18%) of its gross national product on health care than its peers, the U.S. ranked 11th (last) according to a comparative study done by The Commonwealth Fund in high-income countries, according to a new study by health policy think tank The Commonwealth Fund.
For organ transplant recipients, a third dose of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine more than tripled the proportion with a sufficient antibody response, a randomized trial showed.
A new European real world experience study shows that mepolizumab is effective at both 100 or 300mg every 4 weeks in patients with the rarely encountered eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA; or Churg-Strauss Syndrome).
In Canada, biologic DMARDs (bDMARDs) were introduced after 2001, and since that time there have been significant reductions in hip and knee arthroplasty (THA/TKA) among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but not in patients with osteoarthritis (OA).
The CDC had reported the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) study of rare serious adverse events after COVID-19 vaccination and assert that the excessive morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 (and the protection afforded by vaccination) far exceeds the risk of rare safety signals reported following vaccination.
A large cohort study of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients shows that regular tea consumption was associated with a lower risk of RA.
The TORTUGA trial tested filgotinib, a JAK1 inhibitor, in active ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients and was shown to be both effective and capable of retarding sacroiliac (SI) joint erosions as early as 12 weeks.
A large, single-rheumatology center analysis of oral and subcutaneous (SC) methotrexate (MTX) use in daily clinical practice suggests that SC MTX has fewer drug discontinuations and is better tolerated compared to other DMARD therapies.
It was a banner week at the FDA; a new drug approval you should know about; a lot of information about pregnancy and safety; and an interesting case plus a question from one of our readers submitted via Back Talk. This and more in this week's podcast. Let's dive in.
The NEJM has published a multicenter study wherein patients with surgical lumbar spinal stenosis and degenerative spondylolisthesis were found to fair equally well (noninferior if treated with decompression surgery alone compared to decompression with instrumented fusion.
A retrospective cohort study examined the need for joint replacement surgery in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and showed there has been a trend to delay arthroplasty over time. The JIA category, year of implant, and presence of complications significantly affected implant survivorship.
The Journal of Autoimmunity reports that anti-HMRCR antibody positive, necrotizing myositis patients frequently have cutaneous lesions, moreso than previously reported.
Anti-3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMGCR) antibodies have been linked to the immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy (IMNM). Such antibodies have been often implicted with statin (and other exogenous substances) induced necrotizing myositis.
Post-vaccination disease flares were uncommon among patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases who were inoculated against COVID-19, researchers found.
