Are outcomes better in a specialized lupus clinic compared with care provided in a general rheumatology setting? New research from Rush University, Chicago, studies this important care management question and finds the specialized clinic does indeed produce better outcomes.1 A big part of the difference may be due to the added experience specialty clinic clinicians…
SAN FRANCISCO—The 13th International Congress on Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), held April 5–8, highlighted continuing advances in the fight against lupus, a chronic, inflammatory, autoimmune disease affecting multiple organ systems. The rheumatologist’s ability to control this incurable and life-threatening condition is limited both by its heterogeneous presentation and by the lack of successful treatment options,…
I would like to tell you a story. Two, actually. I am just returning from the 19th International Vasculitis and ANCA Workshop, which is always a fascinating meeting. In its inception, it was a workshop, in the true sense of the word. Now, we discuss anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) testing as casually as we discuss…
A study comparing seven biologic DMARDs in RA patients aged 65 years and older found abatacept had the highest retention rate and the lowest discontinuation rate…
SNOWMASS VILLAGE, COLO.—The 2019 ACR Winter Rheumatology Symposium featured a session on gout. Despite a good understanding of its pathogenesis and the many effective therapies to treat it, gout remains a major public health problem in the U.S. Ann K. Rosenthal, MD, Will and Cava Ross professor of medicine and chief of the Division of…
Over the past decade, physicians, patients and policy makers have expressed increasing concern about the high frequency of opioids being prescribed and the association between opioid use and poor outcomes. Rates of opioid prescriptions in the general population rose considerably from the 1990s through 2010, with a plateau in the early 2010s. In 2015, 38%…
As we turn the corner on the second decade of biologic use for rheumatic disorders, a reappraisal of approach in our communication with patients is due. In practice, the impact these agents have on patients’ lives justifies the friction rheumatologists face when connecting patients to them. You can understand why older rheumatologists who apprenticed on…
At diagnosis, temporal artery biopsy results and large-vessel involvement of patients with giant cell arteritis may be stronger predictors of mortality than cardiovascular risk factors…
CHICAGO—Many nonsurgical therapies are available for knee osteoarthritis pain, but they vary greatly in effectiveness. “How should I proceed and figure out what to do with our patients?” asked David T. Felson, MD, MPH, professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, during OA Management Without Surgery in 2018, a session at the 2018…
An exploratory analysis of a canakinumab clinical trial has shown the interleukin 1β inhibitor may significantly reduce patients’ risk for gout flares. During the study, patients using canakinumab experienced this decreased risk, but the treatment did not change serum uric acid levels…