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An official publication of the ACR and the ARP serving rheumatologists and rheumatology professionals

Healthcare Prices Hard to Find Online

Lisa Rapaport  |  

(Reuters Health)—Consumers who search online for prices of common medical procedures may be disappointed by what they find, a U.S. study suggests. Researchers used the search engines Google and Bing to check the cost of common services like cholesterol tests, hip replacements and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans in 8 cities: New York; Los Angeles;…

Lacrimal & Tear Fluid Yield Clues to Dry Eye Disease

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A recent study suggests novel markers of dry eye disease can be found in the lacrimal fluid and tear fluid of patients. Researchers analyzed the proteins in these fluids and found immune response-related proteins are upregulated at the protein level in lacrimal fluid of patients with dry eye disease and may be an important biomarker…

Consumers with High-Deductible Health Plans Could Be Smarter Shoppers

Lisa Rapaport  |  

(Reuters Health)—Even when consumers have health plans that require them to pay a high amount out-of-pocket for care, they often don’t talk to doctors about the price of treatments or shop around to get the best deal, a U.S. study suggests. Researchers focused on high-deductible health plans, which typically have lower monthly premiums than other…

Patient Satisfaction Plummets When Doctors Say ‘No’ to Requests

Lisa Rapaport  |  

(Reuters Health)—Patients may become less satisfied with their care when doctors refuse their requests for things, such as prescriptions or lab tests, a U.S. study suggests. Researchers examined data on 1,141 patients with a total of 1,319 doctor visits. Overall, about two-thirds of these visits included at least one patient request for the doctor to…

Rheumatology Guidelines often Based on Weak Evidence

Will Boggs MD  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Most recent clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) from the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) are based on expert opinion and lack A-level evidence in support of their recommendations, researchers report. “I’d like to highlight not just for providers but also for patients and policymakers that, even though we in the United States are…

Obesity’s Effects on Inflammatory Markers in Patients with RA

Arthritis Care & Research  |  

New research has examined the effect of obesity on inflammatory markers, specifically C-reactive protein (CRP) level and erythrocyte sedimentation rate, in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Researchers found higher BMIs were associated with higher CRP levels in women both with and without RA, suggesting the phenomenon is related to adiposity and not an indication of disease activity. For men with RA, low BMI was associated with higher CRP levels, which proved to be RA-specific but not a direct causal effect of adiposity…

SIRT1: A Therapeutic Target for Osteoporosis?

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New research has found the sirtuin family of proteins may be a positive regulator of bone mass. In the study, pharmacological activation of SIRT1 in mice resulted in increased bone mass, suggesting the pharmacological activation of SIRT1 may protect against osteoporosis…