Hair dye products are commonly used by both men and women to enhance youth and beauty and to follow fashion trends. As reported in the medical literature, hair dyes and their ingredients are associated with allergic contact dermatitis. A possible association with joint inflammation has also been recognized. There is literature to support that para-phenylenediamine…
The patient medical history is far more prominent in clinical decisions for rheumatology than for many common chronic diseases in which a gold standard biomarker, such as blood pressure or serum glucose, is applicable to diagnosis and management of all individual patients.1 Components of a subjective patient history may be recorded as structured, quantitative, standard,…
The year is drawing to a close, and I have not been forced to release a statement that I am leaving The Rheumatologist “to spend more time with my family.” Once again, improbably, I have made it to the finish line. Given that, now seems to be a good time to reflect, and to give…
A recent study indicates that depression in patients with ankylosing spondylitis is a result of both contextual and disease-related factors. Researchers found a patient’s mastery—the perception they have control over things in their lives—plays a key role in the development of depression in this patient population…
Using virtual reality in rehabilitation can have benefits—as long as it is properly understood. In fact, some evidence suggests benefits from the judicious use of immersive virtual reality with patients with rheumatic diagnoses. People tend to have a lower perception of effort compared with actual exertion and lower reports of pain with longer time to exhaustion.
Guideline authors discussed therapeutic options for patients with hand, knee and hip OA in a session at the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting.
A recent study reveals the common misconceptions of primary care physicians about rheumatologic care, such as the difference between inflammatory and non-inflammatory arthropathy. Researchers believe such misconceptions can be targeted to improve patients’ timely access to care and diagnosis…
More than half of regular opioid users suffer from arthritis. Here are three tips to talk to your patients about opioid use and alternative pain management…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—New consensus-based recommendations from the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) address the management of Sjögren’s syndrome with topical and systemic therapies. Sjögren’s syndrome presents with a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations and autoantibodies, including antinuclear antibodies (the most frequently detected), anti-Ro/SS-A (the most specific) and cryoglobulins and hypocomplementemia (the main prognostic markers)….
ATLANTA—In the late 1990s, at the Annual Meeting, a colleague asked Marian Hannan, DSc, MSc, who is now professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, if she wanted to go to a tourist attraction and talk about professional pursuits during a break at the conference. The colleague ranked higher than she did, and she didn’t…