Articles By Jack Cush, MD
Will legislation change copays?
Dr. Angus Worthing writes of patient angst over rising copays. Expensive specialty medications are the frequent target of "sharing" the rising costs of medications and making them the patients responsibility and not the insurers.
Read ArticleTop 5 and Bottom 5 Joints
If you’re going to spend 10-20% of your clinic hours examining and caring for 28 or 68 or 360 joints – it may be instructive to own up to those joints we excel at and take note of the ones we avoid, despise or struggle with.
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5 Mistakes When Diagnosing Adult-Onset Still’s Disease
Adult-onset Still's posses a interestng and diagnostic challeng when encountered. Here are 5 tips to improve your diagnostic acumen for this febrile disorder.
Read ArticleThe Best Kind of Arthritis
I was recently asked, “what is the best kind of arthritis to have?” My response is based on diagnosibility, treatability and safety of necessary treatment.
Read ArticleThe Evolution of Drug Safety
Drug efficacy is swiftly proven in phase II and III trials. Yet drug safety requires time, wider exposure, physician education and patient acceptance to be fully established.
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DECT Evidence of Urate Deposition is Associated with X-ray Damage in Gout
Dalbeth and coworkers studied 92 patients with gout and using DECT scanning have shown those with urate deposition on DECT were 8.5-fold more likely to have erosive disease on plain radiographs.
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Nonadherence to Self-Injected Biologics is High
Researchers from the University of Manchester investigated self-reported adherence to biologic treatment in RA and found that 41% of patients were non-adherent to adalimumab therapy at least once, and 23% were nonadherent overall. http://bit.ly/1KA2
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Osteoporosis Induced by Bariatric Surgery
Although the cause is not clear, women who have weight loss surgery have a higher risk of thinning bones (osteoporosis) and fractures over time, according to a new analysis of a Swedish study.
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Medicare D and Costly Biologics
25% of Medicare beneficiaries with rheumatoid arthritis use high-cost biologics. Yazdany and coworkers have analyzed a national cohort of beneficiaries and compared Medicare part D plans.
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Prevalence of doctor-diagnosed arthritis and activity limitations
52.5 million US adults (22.7%) have arthritis with half of these claiming activity limitation because of arthritis and pain. Many arthritis patients have comorbid conditions including heart disease (49%), diabetes (47%) and obesity (31%).
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