Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com

Rates of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) were doubled in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) relative to other people of the same age and sex, researchers found.On the other hand, risk for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) wasn't significantly higher in the RA patients, according to Katherine Liao, MD, MPH, of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and colleagues.

New research, led by experts at the University of Nottingham, has found that repeated doses of paracetamol in people aged 65 and over, can lead to an increased risk of gastrointestinal, cardiovascular and renal complications.

For decades, glucocorticoids (GCs) have formed the backbone of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) management. Whilst previously there was a sense that a “low” GC dose with limited duration was used, we now appreciate just how heterogenous the disease course of PMR can be, with many patients experiencing frequent relapses and garnering a subsequent huge GC burden over a number of years.

Leiden cohort study of hand osteoarthritis (HOA) patients shows that over 4 years, pain outcomes are variable, and not inevitably worsening.

Patients with highly active systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) appeared to sustain much less organ damage and fewer disease flares when drug therapy yielded substantial relief, researchers found.