Despite the official recognition of PMR as a distinct disease more than 60 years ago, patients with PMR are still largely treated with steroids (glucocorticoids, mostly prednisone). The persistent broad use of glucocorticoids in PMR is related to their quick initial efficacy in the majority of patients with PMR, their low price and the lack of alternative treatments and paucity of glucocorticoid-sparing treatments.

In my earlier blog, PMR: glad or bad tidings? I mentioned our PMR Voices 2021 public engagement project. This project brought home to me as a physician that although our expertise is essential, one unfortunate side-effect is that our very expertise can give us “blinkers”. One result of our “blinkers” is that we may fail to see the extent of the information gap between us and our patients with newly-diagnosed PMR. 

My colleague says, “I simply refer to physiotherapy. I don’t have time to discuss exercises, we need that time to discuss medications, side-effects, etc.” I sympathise. How do we promote activity and muscle strength among our patients?

Another infliximab biosimilar has been FDA approved, but this new version of Inflectra can be given subcutaneously for patients with inflammatory bowel disease.