Research on PT for knee OA, HCQ’s protective role in lupus nephritis & the link between RA disease activity & frailty.
Semaglutatide for Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis?
Based on decades of data from dietary and other lifestyle interventions, doctors have long known that significant weight loss can be an effective treatment for people who are overweight and have knee osteoarthritis (OA). One meta-analysis showed that OA pain, function and stiffness scores improved by 2% for every 1% in lost weight.1 But the…
Beyond Drugs: ACR/AF Guideline Update for Hand, Knee & Hip OA Emphasizes Exercise
Guideline authors discussed therapeutic options for patients with hand, knee and hip OA in a session at the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting.
Does Loss of Skeletal Muscle Mass Increase the Risk of Knee OA?
Obesity is a well-known risk factor for knee osteoarthritis (OA), but data regarding the association of body composition (fat and muscle mass) with the risk of knee OA are lacking. Thus, it is not clear whether the effects of BMI, typically interpreted as effects of obesity, are truly due to excess adiposity rather than to overall loading due to the combined weight of body mass. Misra et al. undertook this study to examine the longitudinal association of body composition categories based on fat and muscle mass with the risk of incident knee OA…
OA Patient-Reported Outcomes Positive for Intra-Articular Injection
In a recent Phase 2 clinical trial, patient-perceived pain and function measures improved with SM04690, an injectable, disease-modifying osteoarthritis treatment currently in development…
Researchers Fight Cellular Senescence, Low-Grade Inflammation
AMSTERDAM—Low-grade inflammation in older adults can impede immune responsiveness, and researchers have shed light on how this happens. They have developed a short-term treatment that blocks inflammation and boosts the immune response, an expert said at EULAR: the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology. The findings were presented in a session on cellular senescence related to…
New Research Shows Knee Osteoarthritis Prevalence Is Rising
Studies highlighting the large numbers of people affected by knee osteoarthritis (OA) point to what clinicians who treat knee OA have been seeing for the past few decades: a substantial increase in the prevalence of knee OA in the U.S. and globally. Roughly 250 million people are affected by knee OA worldwide, and about 14…
ACR Advocates for Access to Viscosupplementation for OA
In several U.S. states, Blue Cross/Blue Shield and other insurers have dropped or are considering dropping coverage of hyaluronic acid injection—or viscosupplementation—for patients with knee osteoarthritis. The decision appears to be based on guidelines published by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in 2013, which at that time specified that research had not found hyaluronic…
How Footwear Affects Patients with Medial Knee Osteoarthritis
A patient’s gait, or how they walk, is an important predictor of the biomechanical load distribution that affects osteoarthritis (OA). This understanding comes from a growing body of literature in biomechanics to test and treat patients with OA, which takes into account a very practical treatment: a patient’s shoes. A focus on flexible footwear, along…
Blacks in U.S. Lose Quality of Life Due to Fewer Knee Replacements
(Reuters Health)—Black people with knee osteoarthritis may have a worse quality of life than white patients in part because they’re less likely to be offered knee replacement surgery or to get the procedure when it’s recommended, a U.S. study suggests. Knee replacement surgery has the potential to greatly relieve suffering from severe joint pain that…