It is well known that hip fractures are associated with significant morbidity and mortality: Mortality increases 15–25% in the year following a hip fracture.1–5 We know that treating osteoporosis prevents fractures and improves patient survival. But is there a relationship beyond this? Several studies have found that bisphosphonate therapy is associated with a reduction in…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Results of a randomized controlled trial do not support routine use of proactive therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) during infliximab induction for improving disease remission rates in patients rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other chronic immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. Proactive therapeutic drug monitoring tailors biologic therapy to individual patients by measuring serum drug levels and…
At a virtual event with the chair of the Ways & Means Subcommittee on Health, RheumPAC donors were able to share concerns and recommendations about drug pricing policies and how they affect providers and patients.
FDA News Release—On April 16, saying that alternative monoclonal antibody therapies authorized to treat patients with COVID-19 remain available, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration revoked the emergency use authorization (EUA) that allowed for the investigational monoclonal antibody therapy bamlanivimab, when administered alone, to be used for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults and…
About 10 years ago, Stuart S. Kassan, MD, FACP, MACR, was playing in a local golf tournament at the Denver Country Club. Each player had to tee off over a water hole in front of roughly 100 club members. His ball was the only one that landed in the water—twice. He was introduced to golf…
AMA Honors Mark Andrejeski with Lifetime Achievement Award In November 2020, the American Medical Association (AMA) presented Mark Andrejeski, the recently retired executive vice president of the ACR, with its Medical Executive Lifetime Achievement Award. The award honors a medical association executive who has contributed substantially to the goals and ideals of the medical profession….
Clinically amyopathic dermatomyositis (CADM), a rare subset of dermatomyositis (DM), is an autoimmune disease characterized by cutaneous findings of typical DM without evidence of myositis. Childhood presentation of CADM is rare, and not many studies describe the epidemiology of juvenile CADM.1,2 Although lung disease is rare among patients with juvenile DM, a few reports have…
Nearly all adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with chronic pediatric rheumatic disease require transfer of care to an adult rheumatologist, yet almost half are lost from care at the time of transfer.1-3 Although sometimes framed as a discrete event, transition refers to the longitudinal process, often spanning several years, in which AYAs and their families…
Since 1991, hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) has been a staple for the treatment of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus; it has been shown to improve survival, reduce cardiovascular risk, thrombosis and renal damage, delay or prevent lupus cerebritis and more. However, HCQ can potentially bind in the retinal pigment epithelium and cause degeneration of photoreceptors, leading to…
ACR CONVERGENCE 2020—Tiphanie Phillips Vogel, MD, PhD, assistant professor of pediatrics and internal medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, moderated the session on COPA syndrome, which drew 324 attendees on a Sunday morning. This rare genetic cause of immune dysregulation can present like anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) associated vasculitis, lupus, lupus nephritis or rheumatoid…