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Mechanistic, Epidemiologic Clues Suggest Possible Link Between Obesity, Inflammation in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Obesity has an established systemic inflammatory component. Could that be a trigger for the inflammation seen in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other rheumatic diseases? Although there is no direct scientific evidence, both mechanistic and epidemiologic clues do give some intriguing suggestions of a possible link. “At first, we thought that fat was involved only in…
Medical Paradoxes in Clinic, Lab Should Encourage Physicians to Reappraise Ideas about Health and Disease
Wash your hands. This most basic tenet of proper hygiene has been drummed into our heads for years. It’s an obvious infection prevention activity, yet for years, compliance among physicians and other caregivers has been lackluster. To rectify this matter, regulatory agencies began auditing hospital staff adherence to this axiom of infection prevention. Not only…
Psoriatic Arthritis & the Obese Patient
Estimates from the National Psoriasis Foundation indicate that more than 8 million people in the U.S. suffer from psoriasis and that approximately 30% of those individuals develop psoriatic arthritis (PsA).1 Given these statistics, roughly 2.4 million people in the country are likely affected by PsA. Moreover, patients with this systemic condition carry a higher-than-average burden…
Elevated BMI Associated with Pain in Patients with Hand OA
Research from Gloersen et al. suggests the systemic effects of obesity, as measured by leptin, may play a role in the severity of pain experienced by patients with hand osteoarthritis.