The alarming statistics on prescription opioid overdoses are well known to medical professionals, thanks to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s widely cited finding that deaths from opioid analgesics have increased fourfold since 1999.1 Half of all fatal drug overdoses now involve opioids prescribed by a doctor. Meanwhile, a lack of rigorous research…
What does a new patient experience as symptoms develop and diagnosis is confirmed? Who is involved in the care of a newly diagnosed patient with rheumatoid arthritis (RA)? The ARHP Practice Committee has developed a case study that will help answer these questions . Meet Joy G., a 48-year-old woman with RA. Follow Joy through…
Collaboration among all providers—surgeon, rheumatologist, physical therapist, etc.—is essential for patients with a rheumatic disease who are about to undergo total joint arthroplasty to reach their goals, including reduced pain and improved mobility…
(Reuters Health)—Arthroscopic surgery won’t cure chronic knee pain, locking, clicking, a torn meniscus or other problems related to knee arthritis, according to a panel of international experts. Every year, more than two million people with degenerative knee problems have arthroscopic surgery. But guidelines published May 10 in the British Medical Journal recommend against the procedure…
(Reuters Health)—A new study finds that as many as four in 10 people may develop hand osteoarthritis. Among women, researchers found the lifetime risk was 47% while for men it was about 25%. Obese people also had 11% higher lifetime risk than those who were not obese. Hand osteoarthritis can cause disability and problems with…
Gout patients need to lower their uric acid levels to 6.0 mg/dL or below and maintain that level. According to N. Lawrence Edwards, MD, MACP, MACR, an education campaign has been raising awareness of this fact and helping gout patients…
(Reuters Health)—Grating, cracking or popping sounds around joints may predict future arthritis, especially in the knees, according to a recent U.S. study. Among thousands of people with no knee pain who were followed for three years, one quarter had noisy knees yet they made up three quarters of the cases of symptomatic knee arthritis that…
Some cancer patients taking immune checkpoint inhibitors experience immune-related adverse events. Laura C. Cappelli, MD, MHS, says rheumatologists are natural partners with oncologists to treat this patient population…
On April 7, 2017, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) published its final report, titled, Targeted Immune Modulators for Rheumatoid Arthritis: Effectiveness & Value.1 The stated objective of the report was to assess the comparative clinical effectiveness of the targeted immune modulators (TIMs) used to treat patients with moderate to severe active rheumatoid…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Treatment of uveitis with adalimumab is linked with “clinically meaningful” differences in quality of life compared with treatment with placebo, new research shows. Dr. John Sheppard of Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Va., tells Reuters Health, “Regardless of underlying etiology or lack thereof, uveitis can have a profoundly adverse effect upon…