The development of arthritis is an underappreciated reason why individuals become impoverished -- a finding that was particularly pronounced for women, an Australian study found. The hazard ratio for falling below the poverty line by 2012 among women who developed arthritis from 2007 to 2009 was 1.51 (95% CI 1.50-1.53), according to Emily J. Callender, PhD, and Deborah J. Schofield, PhD, of the University of Sydney.

Neutrophils are pivotal players in the innate immune response, but are seldom linked to the pathogenesis of inflammatory arthritis, including juvenile idiopathic inflammatory arthritis (JIA).  Jarvis and coworkers from the University of Buffalo sequenced neutrophil RNA from 16 children with the polyarticular, rheumatoid factor–negative form of JIA.

Researchers in Zurich studed 102 systemic sclerosis with serial PFTs and high-resolution computed tomography of the chest (HRCT). They found significant interstitial lung disease (ILD) by HRCT in 63 percent. But, only 26 percent had a forced vital capacity (FVC) <80 percent, and 53 percent had a reduction in one or more PFTs.

A rheumatologist some of you may know gave me a book that changed my life. My wine-drinking life, that is. 

Researchers from Malmo, Sweden have analyzed data from 383 patients, taken from two population based health surveys with a total of 50,705 participants, and found there is a strong association between a high BMI in men and a lower risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, this association was not found in women.

A nationwide study of 8600 ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients from Sweden, compared survival to 40,460 controls between 2006-2012.

Winning is everything – in football and in medicine. Rheumatologists have achieved many successes but still struggle to win against a handful of rheumatic foes. This retrospective examines past wins and losses and helps us to look ahead to a new season.

This week's Daily Download is the fibromyalgia “packet” we give to our patients once they have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Rheumatologists vary widely in their propensity to manage FM – we generally see patients for 1 or 2 visits and then refer them back to their primary care physician or possibly to a sleep, pain or psychiatric specialist depending on the underlying problem(s).

A population-based sudy 824 post-menopausal women ≥50 years old from Valencia, Spain was studied to estimate the percentage of women eligible for treatment, and the proportion of overuse and underuse of antiosteoporotic treatment according to highly-influential osteoporosis guidelines (HIOG).

The herpes zoster (HZ- shingles) vaccine was FDA approved for use in individuals over age 50 years.  However, the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has recommended it only be used in those over age 60 years.  

Safety reports from literature include long-term safety of rituximab, rituximab-induced neutropenia, tabalumab (Anti-BAFF Mab) results from the ILLUMINATE trial, colchicine toxicity increased in CKD patients, FDA updates and drug labeling changes, and more.

UK researchers set out to study medically significant infections (MSI) in juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients enrolled in the British Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Rheumatology Etanercept Cohort Study (BSPAR-ETN).  They compared the rates of MSI in those receiving ETN alone versus MTX alone versus ETN plus methotrexate (MTX).

The National Hospital Discharge Survey shows that between 2000 and 2010, more than 5.2 million total knee replacements were performed in the United States. By 2010, the operation had become the leading inpatient surgery performed on adults aged 45 and over. Moreover, the rate at which middle-aged and older Americans got their knees replaced almost doubled over the study period.

Since the 2005 FDA hearing that resulted in the removal of Vioxx and Bextra from the US market, the safety of nonselective NSAIDs (nsNSAIDs) and selective Cox-2 inhibitors (e.g., celecoxib) has been repeatedly questioned, often without new or substantive data.

Using Medicare claims data on 189,326 RA patients, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham examined the rates of hospitalized infections in previously biologic-treated RA patients and compared rates in cohorts starting new treatment with etanercept, adalimumab, certolizumab, golimumab, infliximab, abatacept, rituximab or tocilizumab.