Articles By Jack Cush, MD
Usual Allopurinol Doses Insufficient in CKD Patients
Uric acid (sUA) control may be a challenge in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). A cohort study shows that conventional dosing recommendations for allopurinol are unlikely to reach target serum sUA goals.
Read Article
CRA Recommendations for Lupus Assessment and Monitoring
A Canadian Rheumatology Association SLE Working Group was established to develop recommendations for the assessment of people with systemic lupus erythematosus. A panel that included 23 adult rheumatologists, 4 pediatric rheumatologists, 1 immunologist, 4 general internal medicine and rheumatology trainees, and a patient representative, used GRADE methodology to assess the literature and develop guidelines.
Read Article
Tocilizumab Equals other Biologics in Cardiovascular Risk
An odd side effect of several new agents is the risk of hyperlipidemia. While this has been seen with tocilizumab (TCZ), there does not appear to be a resultant risk of cardiovascular (CV) events. A study of claims data compared CV risk in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients receiving TOC (an IL6 receptor antagonists) and other biologics and found no differences with regard to CV outcomes.
Read Article
RheumNow Week in Review – Father Knows Best (Paternal Drugs OK) (8.31.18)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com. Cool info on paternal exposures to DMARDs/Biologics, Contraceptive let downs, good outcomes in PsA, depression-insomnia-pain triad in OA and how to store your biologic in a hurricane.
Read Article
New BSR Guidelines on Biologic Safe Use with Inflammatory Arthritis
The British Society of Rheumatology has produced a set of NICE accredited guidelines for the use of biologic therapies in patients with inflammatory arthritis.
Read Article
No Cancer Risk from Psoriatic Arthritis
Inflammmation is a strong risk factor for malignancy. Yet there are mixed results on whether patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsAg) augments the incidence of cancer and all-cause and cause-mortality.
Read Article
Treatment Preferences in Still’s Disease
In July 2018, RheumNow launched a “Live Vote” survey of US and non-US rheumatologists that asked how they diagnose and treat systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA), also known as “Still’s disease”. It appears that many prefer to start therapy with an IL-1 inhibitor, after a course of steroids and MTX/DMARD. Yet, these findings suggest there are significant unmet needs in the diagnosis and management of sJIA patients.
Read Article
Adherence to Gout Therapies Painfully Low
A retrospective study of the large UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink assessed patient compliance in gout and found that adherence to allopurinol is poor, especially among females and younger patients and those with fewer comorbidities.
Read Article
2018 EULAR Recommendations for Hand Osteoarthritis Care
The European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) has previously put forth recommendations for management of hand osteoarthritis (OA) in 2007. But since then, advances and further evidence have emerged.
Read Article
The Safety of Paternal Exposure to DMARDs and Biologics
Pregnancy and drug safety is a complex issue, often with limited informatoin about maternal drug exposure on the offspring. Greater uncertainty exists when considering whether paternal exposure may also influence fetal outcomes.
Read Article
