For the past 16 years, the website, creakyjoints.org, founded by arthritis patient Seth Ginsberg and social entrepreneur Louis Tharp, has offered arthritis patients and their families a safe online community where they can receive meaningful support and education. In March, the online portal added a new initiative—Arthritis Power, the first-ever patient-led, patient-generated, app-based research registry…
“Each project adds new knowledge that brings us a little closer to the cure,” Joan Bathon, MD, of Columbia University Medical Center, says of the Rheumatology Research Foundation’s 8th Annual Investigators’ Meeting in San Diego. Dr. Bathon was one of more than 30 investigators who presented the latest progress on research funded by the Foundation’s…
Nathan Wei, MD, FACP, FACR, admits that he didn’t exactly agree with the amount certain things were encouraged in his family. “Aspects such as academics and music were focused on so much,” he says. “I wanted to break out from that upbringing. I wanted to add in more of what I wanted to do.” And…
A new survey of more than 3,600 adults living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) shows that a patient’s perception of their disease and treatment, as well as their relationship with their healthcare professional, can positively impact the management of their disease. The RA NarRAtive survey, created and sponsored by Pfizer, is part of an international initiative…
Co-morbidities in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and related autoimmune diseases often warrant a multidisciplinary approach to treatment. When it comes to inflammatory and fibrotic lung conditions in these patients, collaboration between pulmonary/critical care specialists and rheumatologists is essential, say two rheumatologists recently interviewed by The Rheumatologist. Both followed their rheumatology fellowship training with additional fellowships…
Rheumatic diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and vasculitis, can affect the body in many ways, but perhaps the most serious is the increased risk of heart disease for many patients. As the risk of atherosclerosis in autoimmune disease patients gains increased attention, rheumatologists and cardiologists are collaborating more often to…
Methotrexate has long been a cornerstone of therapy in rheumatoid arthritis. Two new, injectable methotrexate products may help some RA patients for whom oral methotrexate is not as effective or causes adverse effects. Rasuvo and Otrexup are prefilled, auto-injection devices that allow patients to give themselves subcutaneous injections of methotrexate without having to use a…
The field of rheumatology took center stage when a handful of speakers discussed trends and research during a disease-oriented session of the 2015 Federation of Clinical Immunity Societies (FOCIS 2015) conference held in San Diego in June. Neutrophils in SLE Mariana Kaplan, MD, chief of Systemic Autoimmunity Branch at the National Institute of Arthritis and…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with more-severe acute coronary syndrome and poorer outcomes, according to a new study. “We found that despite the well-researched increased risk of acute coronary events (ACS) in RA, that there was almost no existing data describing clinical characteristics and outcomes of RA- and non-RA patients with ACS,”…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Certain rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients doing well on etanercept and methotrexate may be able to quit the latter agent if they have tolerability problems, according to an open-label Canadian study. In a Sept. 11 online paper in Rheumatology, Dr. Boulos Haraoui, of the University of Montreal, and colleagues noted that although combination…