Lana Pine

Unadjusted rates of hypoparathyroidism were higher in patients who underwent total thyroidectomy and parathyroidectomy at both 30 days and 6 months.

Those with ≥67% of albumin-corrected serum calcium measurements outside of the study-defined limits had 1.9-fold higher odds of experiencing a cardiovascular event compared with patients with <33% of calcium measurements outside the range.

Despite the recent advancements in the treatment of polymyalgia rheumatica, a need for more research focused on finding non-steroidal treatment options remains.

Although women with gout reported more severe symptoms and significantly worse illness perception and quality of life, they were given less information on ways to self-manage their condition.

Results revealed 92.45% of patients with fibromyalgia were simultaneously diagnosed with at least 1 type of psychiatric disorder, although most were diagnosed with 2 or more.

No significant changes in the rate of flares during the 6-month period pre- or post-vaccination were observed in patients with either rheumatoid arthritis or psoriatic arthritis.

No significant differences in the risk of myocardial infarction and other cardiovascular events were observed between patients with gout who received colchicine and those who did not.

Patients with cirrhosis had higher mortality rates, tophi, and gout flare.

At months 6 and 12, the proportion of patients who were able to achieve DAS28 remission and EULAR response was similar across treatment arms.

Results of a recent study found that fibromyalgia may be more common among individuals with opioid use disorder, and that treating fibromyalgia may be beneficial for treating opioid use disorder.

Patients with fibromyalgia were more likely to report that pain caused them to continue using opioids, to increase the amount of opioids they used over time, and to delay getting addiction treatment.

Juliana Reed, MS, believes that there should be legislative incentives and preferred status for lower cost biosimilars in all government programs, with robust competition and accountability for PBMs not to limit access.

Juliana Reed, MS, believes that there needs to be action that addresses the anti-competitive behaviors of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and provides access to all biosimilars.

The March 2023 rheumatology month in review highlights recent data regarding nipocalimab as a treatment option for hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn and myasthenia gravis, hyperbaric oxygen therapy for fibromyalgia, and the differences among specialties in biosimilar uptake.

The Biosimilars Forum is concerned with the limited access to lower-cost biosimilars, specifically regarding the 8 adalimumab biosimilars set to launch in July, due to pharmacy benefits managers controlling access to 80% of the US market.

Although 75% of gastroenterologists believed that the efficacy of biosimilars and biologics were the same, most clinicians still preferred the brand-name drug option.

Patients who received the biosimilar reported early and significant improvements in areas of pain, NSAIDs requirement, and function.

The meta-analysis observed an enhanced plasma uric acid concentration in patients with periodontitis when compared with controls.

At month 3, patients treated with tofacitinib achieved higher rates of ACR20/50, MDA, and PASI75 in both sexes when compared with the placebo. However, female patients were less likely to achieve MDA when compared with males.

At week 24, serum IGF-1 levels increased and body weight was reduced by an average of 6.5% from baseline.

In a multivariate logistic regression analysis, the HAQ score was significantly associated with both anxiety and depression, indicating worse functional status and higher disease activity.

Soumya Chakravarty, MD, PhD, discussed the results of the DISCOVER-1 and DISCOVER-2 studies that evaluated the long-term efficacy of guselkumab for the treatment of adult patients with active psoriatic arthritis.

The collaboration, titled the Lupus Accelerating Breakthroughs Consortium (Lupus ABC), is the first public-private partnership designed to advance lupus discoveries and highlight patient perspective in drug development.

A cross-sectional, case-controlled cohort study evaluated the cardiorespiratory and neuromuscular fitness of Finnish patients with JIA and healthy controls.

Treatment with secukinumab was safe and effective for patients with ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis, with significant reductions in disease activity scores observed through 52 weeks.

According to a recent study, nearly 1 in 4 patients with either hypothyroidism or subclinical hypothyroidism suffer from a vitamin B12 deficiency.

Although the ultimate results of the study were unsurprising to Shai Efrati, MD, PhD, the magnitude of improvement was much higher than he and his team had anticipated.

Results of a recent study indicated that hyperbaric oxygen therapy significantly relieved symptoms of fibromyalgia.

The comparative safety and effectiveness of analgesic medications for acute non-specific low back pain are unclear, highlighting the need for higher quality randomized controlled trials comparing different medications.

The guidelines were created using a panel of rheumatologists, orthopedic surgeons, and patients.