I am a few weeks post-retirement. Having written thank you notes and completed urgent home projects, I swing in a hammock at our currently fire-threatened cabin north of Winthrop, Wash., and reflect. I feel like a young boy while freely flipping pages of a hand-scribed picture book, The Principles of Uncertainty, by Maira Kalman. She…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has toughened the existing warnings for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) due to their stroke and myocardial infarction (MI) risk increase.1 Due to a continual review of these products, FDA is requiring label updates for all prescription NSAIDs. Over-the-counter (OTC) NSAIDs already list the increased risk of MI and…
Prior to the widespread use of bisphosphonates for the manageÂment of osteoporosis, multiple myeloma and metastatic cancer to the skeletal system, osteonecrosis of the jawbones was an infrequent condition seen after radiation for oral cancers (osteoradionecrosis) and in chronic odontogenic infections.1 Since the mid-2000s, osteonecrosis of the jawbones has been noted to occur as a…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—More than 40% of patients with early inflammatory back pain suggestive of axial spondyloarthritis (SpA) show bone loss over the course of two years, according to French researchers. SpA is known to be associated with bone loss at the spine and the hip and an increased risk of vertebral fractures. To investigate…
Severe and disabling joint pain has been connected to the use of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors and combination therapies for diabetes, prompting a new FDA warning…
The FDA has approved new labeling for infused golimumab to include measures of mental and physical health. Plus romosozumab meets primary endpoints in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis during a Phase 3 trial…
The controversy over vitamin D is hearty enough to confuse even seasoned rheumatologists, says Nathan Wei, MD, The Arthritis Treatment Center, Frederick, Md. “It’s like what you hear with coffee. One week, [a study finds] coffee is … good for you; the next week, there’s a study saying it’s bad for you,” he says. Vitamin…
People diagnosed with osteoporosis have almost twice the risk of developing hearing loss as those without the bone-fragile skeletal disease, according to results from a large retrospective study in Taiwan. The study looked at the risk of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL) using data collected from Taiwan’s National Health Insurance claims and is believed to…
The ICD-10 page on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) website features a countdown clock that shows the time left until Oct. 1, 2015, the date on which compliance with the new code set becomes mandatory. By the time this issue goes to press, the clock will read 90 or fewer days. Time…
A single injection daily of zoledronic acid may improve bone mineral density (BMD) in frail elderly women in long-term care facilities, a new randomized controlled trial shows. However, the clinical importance of the improvement, observed over a two-year period, remains unclear, Dr. Neil M. Resnick, of the University of Pittsburgh, told Reuters Health in a…