A retrospective study of the large UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink assessed patient compliance in gout and found that adherence to allopurinol is poor, especially among females and younger patients and those with fewer comorbidities.
The European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) has previously put forth recommendations for management of hand osteoarthritis (OA) in 2007. But since then, advances and further evidence have emerged.An international panel of 19 physicians, healthcare professionals and patients from 10 European countries formulated five overarching principles and 10 new recommendations after a systematic literature review was performed.
Pregnancy and drug safety is a complex issue, often with limited informatoin about maternal drug exposure on the offspring. Greater uncertainty exists when considering whether paternal exposure may also influence fetal outcomes.
A systematic review examined the effect of disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) on male fertility and if peri-conception (within 3 months) paternal exposure was detrimental to fetal outcomes.
The efficacy and safety of the new zoster vaccine Shingrix has not been established among patients with autoimmune diseases, researchers reported here.
The current issue of the CDC's MMWR reviews the new seasonal recommendations for vaccination against influenza. This is an update to the previous recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).
Dalbeth and colleagues studied 4 large prospective cohorts and found that rising levels of serum uric acid (SUA) leads to a non-linear increased risk of incident gout, but only half of those with SUA ≥10mg/dL developed clinically evident gout.
Dr. Jack Cush comments on the last week's news and journal highlights on RheumNow.com.
A large Canadian study of the drug use in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) demonstrated no evidence that the risk of serious, hospitalized infection was influenced by the use of DMARD and/or of tumour necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) therapy.
They studied 747 AS patients who initiated TNFI and/or DMARDs between 2001 and 2011 to identify hospitalized infection coding data and hospital discharge diagnoses.
A study of inpatient systemic sclerosis (SSc) hospitalizations using the 2012–13 National Inpatient Sample database finds an inpatient mortality rate of 5%, and that infection was the most common cause of SSc hospitalizations and in-hospital death.
It has been postulated that TH1 and TH17 pathways are implicated in the pathogenesis of giant cell arteritis (GCA); this is supported by new research showing that interleukin 12 (IL-12) and interleukin 23 (IL-23) may stimulate inflammatory and proliferative pathways relevant to the pathogenesis of GCA.
I recently heard of a secondary school assignment wherein students were challenged to “bury” a word that was no longer useful or appropriate. Their exercise has now evolved into an unofficial RheumNow task force to retire diagnostic terms that have grown into misuse in rheumatology and medicine.
How did we decide which words should perish? And by what criteria? Who has the final say?
An analysis of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Open Payments Database (OPD) shows a high level of inconsistency for physician self-declared conflicts of interest amongst physicians receiving the highest industry payments. These findings were unrelated to academic rank or productivity and industrial payments.
A systematic review by the Medical Board of the National Psoriasis Foundation examined the role of diet in managing adult patients with psoriasis and/or psoriatic arthritis and suggest that dietary interventions to reduce disease severity.
A metanalysis of 55 studies and 4534 patients with psoriasis examined the role of weight loss, gluten-free diets, vitamin supplementation on reducing psoriatic disease activity.
Reuters reports that the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar had declared his agency has the authority to eliminate rebates on prescription drug purchases, a key element in the administration’s plan to lower prescription medicine costs.Azar has said rebates created a perverse incentive to continuously raise drug prices.
As the healthcare landscape continues to change, “no show” rates will be an important factor for clinical practice. Implementing even one or two of the following proposed changes may help improve your no show rates.
