Fibromyalgia News

Patients’ response to anti-CTLA-4 or anti-PD-1 checkpoint therapy for advanced melanoma, and their incidence of immune-related adverse events of grade 3 or higher, were similar regardless of preexisting autoimmune disease, according to data.

High disease activity and widespread pain in patients with axial spondyloarthritis are associated with the development of fibromyalgia, according to data published in Rheumatology.

Most fibromyalgia therapies lack strong evidence, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Depression symptoms were associated with unemployment among working-age adults with arthritis, with middle-aged adults most affected, according to data published in Arthritis Care & Research.

Patients with fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis are at an increased risk for self-harm, compared with those without these diseases, according to findings published in Arthritis Care & Research.

The COVID-19 pandemic, in places like Detroit, with a large working-class population, can highlight the gap between the rich and the poor. It can demonstrate how political unrest can impact the response to a critical situation. Moreover, it can show how health care workers can face both personal and professional challenges in managing an outbreak of this magnitude.

The very idea of social distancing runs contrary to congregation and celebration, two things that lie at the core of New Orleans culture. It is for this reason, perhaps, that New Orleanians were initially resistant to quarantine measures to contain COVID-19. But as the death toll climbed and Mayor LaToya Cantrell canceled St. Patrick’s Day festivities, the city slowly awakened to the idea that this was serious business.

A newly formed organization, the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance, has launched an international registry to collect data on patients with rheumatic diseases who may or may not have contracted the infection that is causing the global pandemic. The aim is to aid clinicians and researchers in real time as the situation evolves.

The situation with COVID-19, or the currently circulating coronavirus, is developing so rapidly that new information may likely be available by the time you reach the end of this paragraph. But along with factual information, misinformation also abounds on social media, on cable news channels and in print publications. Healio Rheumatology will attempt to set the record straight for health care providers looking to sort out fact from fiction.

The United Rheumatology Spring National Meeting will offer attendees lectures on cutting edge topics such as genomics and transcriptomics in addition to a range of continuing medical education activities. But the real appeal of United Rheumatology, and of the meeting, will be the guidance that can be provided to independent rheumatologists regarding practice management strategies and interacting with payers.