RheumNow Podcast – As Good As I Ever Was (7.2.2021) Save

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

1. Medicare Health care utilization by knee OA pts varies. In nearly 1 million Knee OA (Medicare), 33% ended up with TKR. TKR/arthroplasty assoc w/ more clinic visits; PT, specialist care & intraarticular Rx assoc. w/ less TKR. TKR range 26% to 42% by region. PT associated with lower TKR rates/regions. https://t.co/d1EQTTie8X
2. CDC: as of 5/15/2021; the rates of flu test positivity was 0.051-0.18% for the 2020-21 flu season - compared to usual rate of 10%-19% before COVID. Actual influenza hospitalizations dropped from 44.2 to 0.8/100 000 population https://t.co/N8b1sQWWIh
3. Higher rate of Parkinsonism in Osteoarthritis? Taiwan Health Insurance claims analysis of 33,360 OA pts (age 50-64 yrs) vs age matched non-OA - found incr risk of Parkinsons in OA pts (aHR=1.41), esp in knee or hip OA (aHR 1.55) group. https://t.co/SHudF5NnwH
4. Stroke risk is increased in arthritis (RR 1.36, 95% CI: 1.27–1.46); esp for RA (RR 1.38), AS (RR 1.49), PsA (1.33) & gout (1.40); but NOT osteoarthritis (RR=1.03). Apparently Inflammation drives this risk. https://t.co/Snb6OrtZJH
5. Global metanalysis of 67 studies of T2T in gout shows only 34% on ULT achieve a serum urate target. Thus only a minority of gout receive T2T care worldwide. Those on ULT, have low rates of continuous Rx, SUA testing, & achieving SUA target. https://t.co/zpBRhRaek5
6. BRAVE-AA1 - a Phase 2 trial of 110 pts w/ Alopecia areata Rx w/ either PBO or baricitinib (1, 2, 4 mg); showed significantly greater improvement with Bari 2-mg (33.3%, P = .016) and 4-mg (51.9%, P = .001) versus placebo (3.6%). https://t.co/tzDeb4l60H
7. Retrospective study of 258 IBD patients undergoing MRE, 17% had MRI sacroiliitis (73% w/ bone marrow edema. Sacroiliitis was significantly associated w/ Female gender, back pain, and later age of CD diagnosis. >two-thirds of these pts never seen a rheumatologist. https://t.co/HYhAU6aRIf
8. GFR decline in 2269 RA pts (15 mos F/U) - Most RA had a GFR decline w/ age. Pts w/ higher DAS28-CRP had more GFR decline. Pts in remission/LDAS had a slower rate of eGFR loss (−0.817 vs −1.283 cc/min per year; P < 0.001) https://t.co/rnIc080xYb
9. Analysis of Ph 3 data Tofacitinib in Ulcerative Colitis shows no increase in Cancer; rates equal to that seen w/ Tofa in RA, PsA & other biologics in UC. In 1124 pts (2576 PtYrs) there were 20 cancers, excluding NMSC (IR, 0.75; 0.46–1.16) https://t.co/xiTIKYAtyY
10. Alcohol abuse worsens psoriasis. Prospective study of 266 Psoriasis pts (1/2 biologics; 1/2 ; conventional Rx). Poorer outcomes predicted by alcohol abuse (CAGE score) (regression co-efficient 1.40), obesity (1.84) & conventional Rx (4.39) https://t.co/CJGTT0HoV2&nbsp;
11. The Potential of Rituximab Efficacy in Systemic Sclerosis
12. Gender Trends in Rheumatology