There has long been a wall separating adult rheumatologists from pediatric rheumatologists. A recent review article published in the January edition of Arthritis & Rheumatology (A&R) suggests that genetics, rather than age, may be a better way to categorize forms of primary inflammatory arthritis across the lifespan.1 “Pediatric and adult rheumatologists don’t generally interact that…
For patients with hip osteoarthritis (OA), pain management and maintaining function are primary therapy goals. Current guidelines offer recommendations on nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic approaches to addressing these issues in hip OA. For patients in whom pharmacologic management is considered, the use of intra-articular steroid injections is one option. In its 2012 guidelines (the most current…
A proposed model to predict the risk of giant cell arteritis (GCA) prior to a temporal artery biopsy could help triage patients and guide decision making about the need for biopsy or monitoring (see Figure 1). There’s no specific biomarker for GCA, and GCA can be a “diagnostic conundrum, especially when it presents in an…
A recent study explored medical concerns for patients who have lupus markers, but fall short of meeting enough criteria for official disease classification. Investigators at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation conducted a large study to explore current treatments of patients with incomplete lupus erythematous (ILE) and to compare antibody characteristics to healthy people and patients…
If you’re a middle-aged woman who makes a New Year’s resolution to work out regularly and you keep that promise for only six months, don’t think that will go far in protecting your joints. Researchers in Australia have homed in on the details of the sustained physical activity required to reduce the risk of joint…
In 1866, Adolf Kussmaul, an internist, and Rudolf Maier, a pathologist, published the classic characterization of what eventually became known as polyarteritis nodosa.1 It was the first scientific clinical characterization of a noninfectious vasculitis. As such, it became a paradigmatic point of contrast to other types of vasculitides that were later described. Their description also…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—In Lyme-endemic areas, synovial fluid white blood cell (WBC) count isn’t very helpful in distinguishing septic from Lyme arthritis of the hip, a new study suggests. Use of newer-generation Lyme disease diagnostics are necessary to avoid the “under- and overdiagnosis of Lyme arthritis at the time that initial management decisions must be…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—The RANKL inhibitor denosumab is superior to the bisphosphonate risedronate in increasing bone-mineral density (BMD) at the lumbar spine in patients just starting or continuing steroid therapy, according to 12-month results of a 24-month randomized controlled study. “Glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis is the most common form of secondary osteoporosis and increases the risk of…
Studying the way patients with knee osteoarthritis walk and changes to footwear are helping patients under the care of Najia Shakoor, MD, and colleagues take control of their pain and possibly delay disease progression…
Initial results from an ongoing trial show that upadacitinib outperforms adalimumab in achieving ACR20 in patients with rheumatoid arthritis…