Lupus News

Providing transitional care for individuals with systemic lupus erythematosus reduced readmissions and improved not only patients’ quality of life, but also their ability to perform self-care, according to findings published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.

Among black women, consuming four or more alcoholic drinks per week is associated with a significant decrease in the risk for systemic lupus erythematosus, while cigarette smoking was linked to a nonsignificant increase in the risk for the disease, according to data published in Arthritis Care & Research.

The 2018 Rheumatic Disease Report Card: Raising the Grade on Rheumatology Care in America released today by the American College of Rheumatology demonstrates that access to affordable rheumatology care varied considerably from state to state, with most states averaging a “C” grade.

We begin with a 24-year-old previously healthy female presenting with gradual worsening — over the last few months — migraine-like headaches accompanied by nausea but no vomiting. She was in a usual state of health when she started getting headaches, that were described as intermittent with a deep ache sensation. The headaches were unilateral and would switch from left to right and sometimes occur between the eyes. The patient described the severity as 8 out of 10. The headaches did not wake her from sleep, and she was unsure of what triggered them. She denied hearing loss, tinnitus, numbness or tingling of extremities, weakness, joint pain, joint swelling or rashes. She reported no new medications.

Just 32.1% of reproductive-age women with rheumatic diseases use any kind of prescription contraception, while at the same time more than 70% use at least one fetotoxic medication, according to findings published in Arthritis Care & Research.

Physicians and rheumatologists can use a two-factor interferon score and family history to predict a patient’s progression from being antinuclear-antibody positive to developing autoimmune connective tissue diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus or Sjögren’s syndrome, according to findings published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Drug-naive patients newly diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus are likely to demonstrate silent cardiac impairments, even before any symptoms of chest discomfort arise, according to findings published in Arthritis & Rheumatology.

Johns Hopkins Hospital has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals Survey as the top-ranked hospital in the country for rheumatology for the 2018 to 2019 year.

FORT WORTH, Texas — Young adults with systemic lupus erythematosus have a work loss incidence rate of 20% to 40%, right at a time when they are experiencing multiple transitions in their personal and professional lives, according to Carole Dodge, OTRL, CHT, of Michigan Medicine.

FORT WORTH, Texas — When filling prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine for rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus or juvenile idiopathic arthritis, rheumatology nurses should coordinate with their patients’ ophthalmologists and be direct about the information they need regarding possible eye-related adverse effects, according to presenters at the Rheumatology Nurses Society Annual Conference.