Eosinophilia is usually defined as an eosinophil count of more than 500/microL in peripheral blood.1 An eosinophil count of more than 1,500 is referred to as hypereosinophilia (HE); hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) is defined as HE associated with organ dysfunction attributable to eosinophilia.2 Eosinophilia can occur due to infectious, malignancy, autoimmune or allergic etiologies. However, a…
Patients with scleroderma, systemic sclerosis (SSc), myositis and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may develop interstitial lung disease (ILD), which affects a patient’s breathing and quality of life. Prospective studies have revealed that in patients with SSc a greater rate of decline of forced vital capacity (FVC) is associated with increased mortality. Although corticosteroids are commonly used…
Immunoglobin G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a rare fibro-inflammatory disease of unknown etiology that has been recently recognized. It can cause fibro-inflammatory masses in almost every organ of the body and is associated with dense lymphoplasmacytic infiltration of IgG4-postitive plasma cells, storiform fibrosis and elevated levels of serum IgG4.1 IgG4-RD is a systemic disease that may…
A study identified denosumab as a useful treatment for patients initiating or continuing glucocorticoids who are at risk for fractures. Denosumab had clinical effects similar to risedronate but was more effective than risedronate in the improvement of bone mineral density at the lumbar spine…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Romosozumab shows smaller benefits for increasing bone mineral density (BMD) in the second year of treatment compared to the first, new research suggests. The extension of a phase 2 study in postmenopausal women with low bone mass also found BMD decreased sharply when patients on romosozumab were switched to placebo after two…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Patients with cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) should be monitored closely for other autoimmune conditions, researchers suggest. Dr. Benjamin Chong, Dr. Linda Hynan and Elaine Kunzler of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas analyzed data from 129 adults in the UTSW Cutaneous Lupus Registry (mean age, 49; 79% women). Individuals…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—A “biomechanical” analysis of a previously taken pelvic or abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan is at least as accurate in assessing an individual’s hip fracture risk as a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan, according to new research. This accuracy of the hip bone mineral density (BMD) T-score as measured by the biomechanical…
Gut microbiota may provide insight into important environmental triggers for autoimmune diseases. New research in mice indicates that intestinal dysbiosis triggers a mucosal immune response that stimulates T and B cells, which are critical to the development of inflammatory arthritis…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Risk of myocardial infarction (MI) is increased in patients with spondyloarthritis (SpA) who use the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) diclofenac, but not in those who take naproxen, researchers say. Maureen Dubreuil, MD, MSc, of Boston University School of Medicine, and colleagues analyzed 20 years of medical records from the U.K.’s Health Improvement…
New research examined the frequency of osteoporosis screening and treatment for RA patients from 2003–2014, including four years following the release of the 2010 ACR guideline on glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis prevention and treatment. The results: Approximately half of RA patients for whom treatment was indicated never received osteoporosis medication. Researchers also found that RA patients, despite their increased risk for developing osteoporosis, were not more likely to receive osteoporosis care than OA patients…