The RheumNow Week in Review – Handshakes or Hugs (8.3.18) Save

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and highlights from the past week on RheumNow.com, including new treatments for LTBI, gout consequences, RA and offspring risk, PsA risk, and the opioid epidemic effects.

1. NEJM study of Latent TB in adults shows 4 mos Rifampin (10mg/kg/d) to be noninferior to 9 months of isoniazid (5 mg/kg/d), but RIF had higher rate of completion rates and better safety outcomes.  http://bit.ly/2AzY5O3
2. Metanalysis of 266 studies examining 976,408 psoriasis patients shows the prevalence of PsA among patients with psoriasis was 19.7% (18.5%-20.9%). In children and adolescents (<18 years), the pooled prevalence was 3.3% https://t.co/RNo5yKbmvv
3. Pfizers announces EU approval for tofacitinib 10 mg bid for use in adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis (UC) who have had an inadequate response or intolerance to DMARD or biologic agents https://t.co/Cw9JFozphJ
4. Olmstead county study of 429 gout patients shows that hospitalization was associated with a 10 fold increase risk of gout flares & in hosp gout flares prolonged hospitalization by avg of 1.8 days. (all highly significant) https://t.co/ICyq4RzCds 
5. Study of >100,000 UK and Taiwan pts with incident gout shows gout confers significant risk of Joint replacement surgery (14-56% higher in gout) which was not reduced by urate lowering therapy. https://t.co/AnenjnJ4ks
6. Positive Results from Phase III study of RHB-104 in Crohn’s Disease; RHB-104 is a combo antimycobacterial-antibiotic with antiinflammatory properties (given w/ hypothesis that CD caused by a mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis https://t.co/w78xCKkAlG
7. Study of 6644 hip & femoral fractures found 2.95% were atypical femoral Fx (90 subtrochanter & 106 femoral shaft Fx). Risk factors were osteopenia/osteoporosis, RA, increased ant. & lat. femoral curvatures, & thicker lateral femoral cortex at the shaft https://t.co/vWsW0hLoHS
8. Study of 72 AS and RA patients eligible to switch from etanercept originator to SB4 biosimilar shows that switch & good experience occurred in 85%, Those not switching were suspect of generics, older with longer disease duration https://t.co/iE0oFNHxbq   
9. Opioid use remains high "US has the highest per capita rate of opioid use in the world...double that of 2nd Germany & 7X higher than the UK.... On average, 40 people die daily in the US from opioid overdoses, a four-fold increase since 1999 https://t.co/ejtX8er7k7
10. Opioid Aversion is Augmenting Spinal Steroid Injections   NY TIMES  http://rheumnow.com/content/opioid-aversion-augmenting-spinal-steroid-in...  
11. Maternal RA Increases Offspring Risk of Autoimmune Disorders  http://rheumnow.com/content/maternal-ra-increases-offspring-risk-autoimm...
12. Statin Associated with an Increase in Inflammatory Myopathy  JAMA –IM  http://rheumnow.com/content/statin-associated-increase-inflammatory-myop...