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Cardio/Pulmonary

Impact of Myositis in Scleroderma Patients

Jack Cush, MD

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) may have overlap features such as myositis. When present, myositis in SSc is associated with an increased risk of cardiac involvement and a shift in mortality away from ILD towards a greater cardiac risk.

Dr. John Cush
@RheumNow
Polish study compared comorbidities #s in incident RA & PsA. RA pts were older at dx (61 vs 44 yrs) & may drive higher rates in RA. 23/3 comorbidities (74%) were signif more prevalent in RA, including HTN (18 v 12%), ischemic HD (11 v 6%), cerebrovascular dz (4 vs 2%) https://t.co/l0RW6bVVHd

Link Between Obesity and Psoriatic Arthritis

Jack Cush, MD

Obesity is an incidental comorbidity in psoriatic arthritis (PsA). It is a modifiable, mechanistically active driver of disease onset, severity, and treatment failure. A new comprehensive review in RMD Open (Madsen et al., 2026) synthesizes 49 studies suggesting that weight management belongs in

Dr. John Cush
@RheumNow
Waist size matters! Using NHANES data (1999-2018) the weight-adjusted waist index (WWI) calculated on 5582 CKD pts. WWI was signif assoc w/ all-cause mortality (adj HR  1.17) & CV (1.24); these assoc partially mediated by NLR (inflammation) ~6.6%, showing both central adiposity https://t.co/kNf4nqiD2a
Dr. John Cush
@RheumNow
Swedish Pt Registry of 4317 AAV pts showed GPA & MPA had signif incr risk of CV dz (HR 2.04) & thromboembolism (HR 2.45); males incr MI risk (HR 2.25) & females incr ischemic stroke risk (HR 1.64). Sibs had no excess CVD-TE risk. The highest CVD-TE risk occurred within 3 mos. of https://t.co/FdbIXoCZf0
Dr. John Cush
@RheumNow
Sleep and Obesity: A Bidirectional Relationship In July 2026, JAMA published a concise review of the bidirectional relationship between sleep health and obesity. Obesity affects roughly 40% of US adults, and sleep problems affect nearly one-third. This review outlines the https://t.co/cA6P4aOHR0
Dr. John Cush
@RheumNow
Guidelines for Adult-Onset IgA Vasculitis A EUVAS-sponsored expert panel of 37 specialists across rheumatology, nephrology, dermatology, and pathology published evidence-based guidelines for adult-onset IgAV, which behaves very differently in adults than the usually https://t.co/12T8lJhPFe
Dr. John Cush
@RheumNow
Risk of Venous Thromboembolism in Rheumatoid Arthritis RA confers a 50–100% excess risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) compared with the general population, with adjusted hazard/odds ratios ranging from 1.3–2.2 across large cohort studies (Vojinovic, Askling, Antovic; https://t.co/IsS6vqo6vU
Dr. John Cush
@RheumNow
Italian SPRING cohort of #SSc pts found only 5.3% (of 1689 pts) without the typical scleroderma pattern on nailfold change by NVC. They had milder dz, with less vascular dz (pitting scars 33 vs 48%), telangiectasias (52 vs 74%), calcinosis 3.4 vs 12%) & higher DLCOs at 12, 24, https://t.co/AoNAhVYfII
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