Rheumatologists are accustomed to educating patients about medications—but biologic medications require some additional time and discussion. “Biologics are inherently more complex [than other medications], and there are multiple issues to consider before initiating treatment,” says K. “Kwas” Huston, MD, The Center for Rheumatic Disease, Kansas City, Mo. “This includes the patient’s disease activity, prior medications…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Members of the military and firefighters are at increased risk of osteoarthritis (OA), a new systematic review shows. “Osteoarthritis is more common in people who are tactical athletes, people who are firefighters and military service members, than it is in the general population,” Dr. Kenneth Cameron of Keller Army Hospital in West…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Early or late mobilization after rotator cuff surgery appears to yield similar outcomes, according to a new meta-analysis. Dr. Bruno Fles Mazuquin from the University of Central Lancashire in the U.K., and colleagues conducted an overview of systematic reviews comparing the effectiveness of early and conservative rehabilitation after rotator cuff repair. The…
On Jan. 31, the ACR partnered with the Arthritis Foundation to host an Arthritis 101 Congressional briefing on Capitol Hill. Panelists educated new and returning members of Congress and their staffers about arthritis and other rheumatic diseases, the cost and impact of rheumatic disease to constituents and the U.S. healthcare system, and current policy challenges…
(Reuters Health)—Symptoms that patients describe to doctors may not always be documented in electronic medical records, a small U.S. study suggests. To test out how well the records match reality, researchers compared symptoms that 162 patients checked off on paper-based questionnaires with the information entered in patients’ electronic charts at eye clinics. Roughly one-third of…
Career changes can be difficult. But for Stanford Shoor, MD, leaving clinical practice and becoming an educator in the field of rheumatology has been “a renaissance.”
EULAR has updated its recommendations for the management of early arthritis, outlining aspects of diagnosis and drug treatments…
Ten years have elapsed since the ACR conducted its last workforce study, and we know that much has changed. The comprehensive patient-centered, integrative approach to the 2015 ACR/ARHP Workforce Study of Rheumatology Specialists in the United States (now publicly available) describes the character and composition of the current clinical workforce, recognizes demographic and employment trends,…
The makers of FX006, a steroid injection for treating pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis, have submitted a new drug application to the FDA…
Microparticles in the blood of SLE patients may be a source of extracellular HMGB1, which is involved in immune response. Researchers found that analysis may be able to determine if the patient is producing dead, dying and activated cells that are important for SLE pathogenesis…