Articles By Jack Cush, MD
Safety of Long-Term PPI Use
The current issue of JAMA reviews the safety of long-term use of proton pump inhibitors (PPI). The following is a collection of the evidence about these purported risks.Fractures
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Increased Deaths in RA, Despite Decreasing Mortality Rates
Data from the Swedish Rheumatology Quality (SRQ) Register studied death rates in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) between 1997 and 2014. Holmqvist and colleagues studied 17,512 RA and 78,847 matched controls from the general population, until their death.
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UAB Researchers Shed Light on Age-Related Osteoporosis
Researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have detailed mechanisms leading to age-related bone loss and osteoporosis.
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No Cancer Risk With Biologic Use
A polulation-based study from Sweden has shown that treatment with tocilizumab, abatacept, rituximab, or tumor necrosis factor (TNFi) inhibitors does not affect the risk of malignant neoplasms among patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Specifically, use of a first or second TNFi or biologic DMARDs (bDMARD) does confer a different cancer risk when compared to conventional DMARDS in biologic–naive RA patients.
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FDA Panel Backs New Zoster Subunit Vaccine
GlaxoSmithKline has announced that the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) voted unanimously in support of the efficacy, safety and approval of its herpes zoster subunit (HZ/su) vaccine (called Shingrix) for the prevention of herpes zoster (shingles) in adults ages 50 and over.
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Sirukumab Turned Down by FDA
On Friday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that will not approve Johnson & Johnson’s rheumatoid arthritis drug sirukumab, stating further data and study would be needed to establish its safety.
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Isolated SS-B Not Associated with Connective Tissue Disease
A one-year prospective study of 624 patients undergoing autoantibody testing for anti-SS-A and/or anti-SS-B autoantibodies finds that isolated anti-SS-B autoantibodies was not associated with features or the diagnosis of any specific connective tissue diseases (CTD).
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22 September 2017 The RheumNow Week in Review
The RheumNow Week in Review discusses the past week's news, journal articles and highlights from RheumNow.com. This week's report discusses survey results on membranous nephritis and patient perceptions of steroids, nonadherence, celebrity arthritis and IgG4 treatment.
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Osteoporotic Fractures as Back Pain in Older Men
The Journal of Bone and Mineral Research reports that older men with undiagnosed vertebral fractures are likely to report new or worsening back pain. (Citation source bit.ly/2y9rMiZ)
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Rituximab Efficacy in IgG4 Related Disease
PLOS reports greater than 90% efficacy when rituximab (RTX) is used to treat patients with IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD).
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