Arthritis is often associated with retirees, but a new analysis of government data suggests the disease is much more common in young and middle-aged adults than previously believed. Disease prevalence is currently estimated at about 54 million adults, but that number is greatly underestimated, especially among those 64 and younger, according to a study…
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…
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in connective tissue disease (CTD) features significant morbidity and mortality. Standard therapies with endothelin receptor antagonists and phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors have shown some clinical improvement in patients, but these clinical improvements have proved modest when compared with other types of PAH. As our case below suggests, rituximab may show promise as a…
When Paul Sufka, MD, a rheumatologist with HealthPartners Medical Group and Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minn., wants to connect with his colleagues or keep abreast of the latest rheumatology journal articles, he turns to Twitter. Dr. Sufka is one of many rheumatologists who have found effective ways to incorporate social media into their medical…
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…
The first organization dedicated to fighting rheumatic disease was the International League Against Rheumatism (ILAR), founded in 1928 under the guidance of a Dutch national, Dr. Jan van Breemen. Interest in rheumatology quickly spread throughout the American continent, and the American Association for the Study and Control of Rheumatism met in Cleveland, for what they…
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…
You see a patient for the first time to establish care for Sjögren’s disease. She complains of dry eyes, dry mouth and diffuse arthralgias. You do not appreciate any synovitis on physical exam. Of note, you are the fourth rheumatologist she has seen during the past year. Toward the end of the clinic visit, she…
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…