Articles By Jack Cush, MD
Drug Monitoring Ineffective with Infliximab Treatment
The predictive value of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) while on biologics is debateable; gastroenterology routinely relies on TDM, while rheumatologists do not.
Read Article
Childhood Lupus May Hamper Adult Careers
Long-term outcomes of kids with childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (cSLE) are uncommon, but this cSLE cohort analysis suggests that SLE significantly impacts their future education, vocation, and employment as they reach adulthood.
Read Article
Autoimmune Thyroid Disease in Women
JAMA has posted an insights article reviewing autoimmune thyroid disease in women. Thyroid autoimmunity has a higher prevalence in women and with increasing age. Similar to many autoimmune disorders, thyroid disease is more common in women than in men.
Read Article
Higher Cardiovascular Risks with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
The Journal of the American College of Cardiology has published the results of a study showing that patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have an increased risk of heart failure (HF) and other long-term cardiovascular outcomes.
Read Article
Uric Acid: A Major Player in the Metabolic Syndrome
An open source, free read from the European Journal of Internal Medicine discusses how uric acid has evolved from the toxic cause of gout and nephrolithiasis and evolved, by way of science, into a pleiotropic recidivist in the evolution of obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance, renal disease, hypertension, fatty liver, and cardiovascular disease.
Read Article
RheumNow Podcast – Uppers and Downers
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com.
Read Article
Predictors of Methotrexate Toxicity
A metanalysis showed that while adverse events (AEs) are common when methotrexate is used in rheumatoid arthritis or inflammatory arthritis patients, serious AEs ranged from 2.1 to 9.5% and drug discontinuations ranged from 6.7% to 15.5%, mostly due to gastrointestinal events.
Read Article
Seven Year Delay in Diagnosing Spondyloarthritis
A large patient cohort study suggests that the mean diagnostic delay (DD) in European axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) patients is 7.4 years, moreso in women and younger patients.
Read Article
Tofacitinib in Ankylosing Spondylitis
A phase III trial assessing the efficacy and safety of tofacitinib in adults with with active ankylosing spondylitis (AS) shows that JAK inhibitiion was superior to placebo in a 48 week study.
Read Article
Psoriatic Pregnancies Pose Risks to the Mother, Not Child
A metanalysis of pregnancy outcomes in women with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis finds an excess risk of adverse maternal events, but not adverse neonatal events. This systematic review included 16 studies meeting inclusion criteria.
Read Article