Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news from the past week at RheumNow.com.
CNN has published a recent government report from the Tick-Borne Disease Working Group that suggests the US tick population is growing and may bring with it an increase in tick-related illnesses.
While Lyme disease is the most popular of tick-borne illnesses, there are another 20 known conditions related to tick bites.
Management of Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP) can be challenging as supportive care and avoidance of corticosteroids are often insufficient options. A new series of case reports and literature review of steroid refractory HSP suggests that rituximab may be effective in reducing hospital admissions, overall steroid use, and is capable of inducing remission.
Frustration may be the word that best characterizes many scleroderma management plans - owing to a lack of trials, lack of agreement and lack of clear guidance on management.
A panel of concerned experts on systemic sclerosis (SSc) set out to develop consensus on SSc treatment algorithms.
Lancet reports on a new vaccine for Chikungunya fever (MV-CHIK) demonstraing excellent safety, tolerability and good immunogenicity, independent of pre-existing immunity against the vector. MV-CHIK is a promising vaccine for the prevention of chikungunya fever.
Subclinical myocardial inflammation is common among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and is associated with articular disease activity, researchers reported.
The current MMWR reports that arthritis is seen in nearly one-third of adults with prediabetes and that more than half of such patients are obese and not engaged in regular physical activity.
Doctor-diagnosed arthritis affects 54.4 million in the U.S. and the CDC expects this to rise to 78.4 million by 2040.
The CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) reports that during 2015–2016 there was a total of 27,394 firearm homicides and 44,955 firearm suicides among US residents, with 12% and 5% of events occuring in children 10–19 years.
Methotrexate has been shown to reduce cardiovascular (CV) deaths in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Given that inflammation underlies the pathogenesis of atherothrombosis, Dr. Paul Ridker and colleagues studied the value of low dose methotrexate (MTX) in preventing cardiovascular events.
Dr Jack Cush reviews the News and Journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com. Be sure to check out our upcoming meeting in March 2019 - RheumNow Live.
JAMA reports on a randomized clinical trial of 202 adults with acute low back pain showing the addition of intensive patient education failed to improve pain outcomes.
This randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial recruited patients from general practices in Sydney, Australia, between 2013 - 2015. Patients had to have acute low back pain of fewer than 6 weeks’ duration.
Last July, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed new E/M guidelines for office visits with physicians. It issued the final guidelines on November 1, with a few tweaks. Implementation was delayed until 2021 (from 2019), possibly due to overwhelming opposition from physicians.
Boston researchers have found that in a large cohort study of patients receiving rituximab (RTX), most were not being monitored for hypogammaglobulinemia, despite the observed significant increase in severe infections and increased mortality in RTX treated patients.
Analysis of the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System data examined the association between statins' musculoskeletal adverse events (MAEs).
Review of the data shows that atorvastatin and rosuvastatin (with strong low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol‐lowering effects) had a higher risk and a faster onset of MAEs when compared with simvastatin.
New recommendations have been published in the Journal of Athletic Training on the management of patellofemoral pain (PFP).
