A 65-year-old woman was referred by an orthopedist to a rheumatologist for left knee pain. Previously, in 2014, she underwent left total knee arthroplasty (TKA) for severe osteoarthritis in a different institution. Following the procedure, she experienced severe chronic anterolateral knee pain at rest, exacerbated by walking. Because she was rendered wheelchair bound and required…
(Reuters Health)—People with stiff and aching knees due to arthritis get better relief from physical therapy than from cortisone injections, according to a one-year military study comparing the two treatments. A multi-disciplinary team of doctors reports in The New England Journal of Medicine that people who initially scored 107 on a 241-point scale measuring a…
Two experts weigh in on whether & how axial spondyloarthritis patients should exercise…
ATLANTA—Osteoporosis in premenopausal women is uncommon compared with its frequency in post-menopausal women, but when it is suspected, it poses some difficult questions for clinicians: How should it be diagnosed in this understudied population? If found, should it be treated—and how? Elizabeth Shane, MD, professor of medicine at Columbia University and attending physician at New…
In a study in Arthritis Care & Research, researchers showed an indirect association between osteoarthritis (OA) and sleep health in older men.1 In those participants with OA, the condition is associated with poorer sleep health, as well as a 16% higher incidence of elevated C-reactive protein and 12% higher odds of having elevated interleukin 6….
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—The osteoporosis drug denosumab is associated with a higher incidence of serious infections compared with placebo, but the risk is similar to comparator drugs, a systematic review and meta-analysis reveals. Talia Diker-Cohen, MD, PhD, of Tel Aviv University, and colleagues searched the literature through May 2019 for randomized controlled trials of denosumab…
(Reuters Health)—Young adults who have had knee injuries are much more likely than uninjured peers to develop knee osteoarthritis (OA) by middle age, especially if they have broken bones or torn connective tissue, a recent study suggests. Cruciate ligament injuries were associated with a 19.6% greater risk of knee osteoarthritis, the study found. Meniscal tears…
Legislation introduced in both houses of Congress would set a minimum Medicare reimbursement of $98 for DXA bone density scans.
ATLANTA—Encouraging data on interleukin (IL) 23/IL-17 pathway drugs in psoriatic arthritis (PsA), JAK inhibitors in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treatment and new evidence on physical activity and bone health in women were among the highlights of the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting’s Clinical Year in Review. Susan Manzi, MD, MPH, director of the Lupus Center for Excellence…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Adding high-dose teriparatide to denosumab therapy leads to substantially greater increases in bone-mineral density (BMD) than combination therapy with low-dose teriparatide, a new phase 4 study shows. “The combination of denosumab and teriparatide, particularly with high-dose teriparatide of 40 ug daily, may be of benefit to patients at very high risk of…