Articles By Jack Cush, MD
Comorbidities Drive Risk of Severe Outcomes with COVID-19
The current edition of the MMWR from the CDC shows that among those vaccinated against COVID-19, there is a low risk of severe outcomes (hospitalization and death); the highest risk is seen in those with multiple comorbidities.
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New Onset Rheumatic Disorders with COVID-19 Infection
The journal Cells has published a review of new rheumatic disorders following COVID-19 infection. Rheumatologists have infrequently noted such events and wondered what is the true incidence or range of possible manifestations.
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Clinical Practice Guidelines for Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children
Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is new and serious complication of COVID-19 that preferentially affects adolescents. A review of proposed management guidelines is compiled in this report, suggesting a unified approach to therapeutic management of MIS-C.
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Autoantibody Associations in Systemic Sclerosis
Analysis of two large cohorts of systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients shows a signfiicant minority of patients to have autoantibodies typical of rheumatoid erosive arthrits, but their presence in SSc patients was associated with unique manifestations of SSc.
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Spesolimab, an IL-36 Blocker, in Pustular Psoriasis
The NEJM has published the results of a phase 2 randomized trial showing that the use of an interleukin-36 receptor inhibitor, spesolimab, resulted in rapid improvement of generalized pustular psoriasis (at 1 week), but that adverse events and infections were of concern with 12 weeks of foll
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Safety of COVID-19 Vaccines in Rheumatic Patients
Since the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines in January 2021, rheumatologists have fully advocated the protective benefits of their use - yet many have rarely noted flares and reactive side effects worrisome to patients. Now a multinational study shows that the use of COVID vaccination in rheumatic and musculoskeletal disease is safe, well-tolerated with very rare serious adverse events.
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Best of 2021: Jack of All Subspecialties
It's great to be a rheumatologist, but boy, it's getting harder and harder. You have to be a jack of all trades. You have to be good at cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, vaccination, inflammatory bowel disease - it just never ends. This and more, as Dr. Cush summarizes more than a dozen journal articles, news reports and questions + cases.
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Best of 2021: FDA Puts Boxed Warnings on JAK Inhibitors
Based on the safety review of tofacitinib in Pfizer's Oral Surveillance (1133) study, the FDA has added serious boxed warnings to all three marketed JAK inhibitors (for inflammatory diseases) and formalized the recommendation that patients should be started on a TNF inhibitor (TNFi) before trying a JAK inhibitor. These recommendations apply to tofacitinib, baricitinib and upadacitinib.
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Best of 2021: Comparison of Three Coronavirus Vaccines
On Feb. 27, the Food and Drug Administration announced it has issued an emergency use authorization for Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose Covid vaccine, making it the third COVID-19 vaccine to be commercially available. We've compiled a comparison table and some key information relevant to your delivering patient guidance henceforth.
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Best of 2021: Tofacitinib Safety Concerns
Dr. Jack Cush reviews and discusses the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com.
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