MoCA as a Screening Test in SLE Assessing the utility of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) By Oshrat E. Tayer-Shifman, MD, Kimberley Yuen, BSc, MD, & Zahi Touma, MD, PhD, FACP, FACR Why was this study done? Cognitive impairment is a common manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), with a prevalence of 40% based on…
Juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) is a childhood form of inflammatory myopathy affecting children younger than 18 years. The diagnosis of JDM is based on characteristic clinical features of proximal muscle weakness, skin rash, elevated muscle enzymes, magnetic resonance imaging and muscle biopsy.1 Autoantibodies seen in patients with inflammatory myopathy are not only associated with particular phenotypes…
New research recently found that, when combined with standard treatment, diet and exercise regimens are cost effective for overweight and obese patients with knee OA…
Obesity is a modifiable risk factor for many patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA), and the National Institutes of Health recommend an initial weight loss goal of 10%. But how does losing more weight affect knee OA patients? In a new study, researchers compared the outcomes of knee OA patients who lost more and less than the recommended 10% of their baseline weight, finding significant improvement in health-related quality of life and reduction in pain for patients who lost twice what’s recommended…
(Reuters Health)—Obese people with knee osteoarthritis (OA) may find greater symptom relief when they lose larger amounts of weight, a recent study suggests. Researchers examined data on 240 obese adults with pain from knee OA who were participating in an 18-month experiment to see how diet alone or diet plus exercise affected their health. Participants…
Sparks et al set out to investigate whether weight change during the early RA period is associated with subsequent mortality and to evaluate whether there is an RA-specific effect. They investigated weight change during the early RA period, because this is the window of time during which weight change is most likely to be related to RA-specific processes. They found that severe weight loss during the early RA period was associated with a subsequent increased mortality risk both for women with and without RA…
Managing weight loss through diet may help patients with rheumatic disease reduce inflammation. Here are some strategies on weight loss and eating for rheumatologists and patients…
(Reuters Health)—Obese people who have weight loss surgeries, such as gastric bypass, are much less likely than those who don’t have surgery to develop gout, a painful type of arthritis, according to a Swedish study. People who chose to get weight loss surgery are also less than half as likely to develop hyperuricemia, too much…
With the increased popularity of CrossFit and other weight-training sports, a recent review examined the risk of injury associated with these activities. Using data from mostly retrospective studies, researchers determined that weight-training sports have a lower risk of injury than team sports, with bodybuilding having the lowest injury rate…
(Reuters Health)—A program of weight-bearing exercise reduces pain and improves joint function, at least for two to six months, for people with osteoarthritis, according to a review of previous trials. “We had a systematic review for Cochrane from 2008 and 2009, but there were much less articles,” said Dr. Martin Van der Esch, who coauthored…