As if the fatigue, joint pain, etc., were not enough, new research has found many lupus patients must contend with clinical depression as well—something that can have a devastating cascade effect on other areas of their lives. Are adults with childhood-onset lupus at greater risk of depression than lupus patients with onset of disease during…
The past five years have been busier than usual for the Churg-Strauss syndrome. It was renamed eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA).1 Longitudinal cohorts totaling 484 patients—approximately as many as all previous series combined—were described.2,3 A proposal was advanced to remove and rename a subset in which vasculitis may not be present.4 And shortly after the…
A 43-year-old man with a past medical history of type 2 diabetes mellitus, bilateral inguinal hernia repair as a child and prior cholecystectomy woke from sleep with sudden-onset periumbilical abdominal pain. He was admitted to another hospital, but required transfer to our surgical intensive care unit after a recurrent episode of severe abdominal pain, during…
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by polyarthritis, especially involving hands and wrists. Without treatment, RA usually evolves to articular deformities. Unfortunately, although rheumatoid deformities are characteristic, they are not pathognomonic, and we should be aware of possible mimics.1 Neuropathic arthropathy (NA), similar to other diseases, such as hemochromatosis, psoriatic arthritis, calcium pyrophosphate deposition disease, Jaccoud…
Recent research found 41% of pediatric patients with SLE are affected by at least mild disability, with higher pain scores correlating with increased disability. Mary Beth Son, MD, says determining how these children feel and what affects them daily is vital to “identifying targets we can hit as clinicians to improve their quality of life.”
In the past nine years, visits to the emergency department by gout patients have increased by almost 27%. Researchers suggest physicians may not adequately be addressing the burden of gout and the underlying accumulation of uric acid, driving the dramatic increase in emergency department visits in the U.S…
NETs or LL37-DNA complexes may serve as future targets for SLE therapy. In a recent study, researchers identified a link between neutrophils and NETs, and the activation of self-reactive B cells. Their study describes a neutrophil-B cell interaction unique to lupus…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Levels of two bone markers currently recommended for evaluating postmenopausal women with osteoporosis have no association with hip fracture risk, according to a new study using Women’s Health Initiative data. “At least in these postmenopausal women, it was not a useful endeavor to check bone turnover markers to predict hip-fracture risk. That…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Solid evidence suggests that anticonvulsants provide no benefit for low back or lumbar radicular pain and a high risk of harm, researchers say. “We started the study because these drugs were increasingly being used for low back pain and radiating leg pain, without the support of strong evidence of effectiveness,” principal investigator…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Romosozumab improves bone mineral density (BMD) in men with osteoporosis, but safety concerns are holding up its approval in the U.S. Up to 2 million men in the U.S. have osteoporosis, and up to 13 million have osteopenia, researchers note in a report online June 20 in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology…