Osteoarthritis and Bone Disorders News

Hospitals that were enrolled in Medicare’s Bundled Payments for Care Improvement program saved about 2% for each major hip or knee replacement they performed compared with hospitals that were not enrolled in the program, data showed.

Adding the antidepressant duloxetine to usual care for knee osteoarthritis with moderate pain, regardless of any depression screening or symptoms, is cost effective, according to findings published in Arthritis Care & Research.

Patients treated with 9 mg of fasinumab every 4 or 8 weeks, instead of 6 mg, experienced improvements in chronic lower back pain and function, according to data published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

There is no increased risk for COVID-19 infection or all-cause mortality among patients with osteoarthritis in primary care who receive NSAIDs, compared with other analgesics, according to data published in Arthritis & Rheumatology.

There were approximately 1.3 billion cases of musculoskeletal disorders worldwide in 2017, leading to 121,300 deaths and 138.7 million disability adjusted life years, according to findings published in Arthritis & Rheumatology.

Physicians often weigh the uncertain efficacy of injectable drugs, and patients’ expectations, before offering intra-articular injections for osteoarthritis, according to findings published in Arthritis Care & Research.

Use of corticosteroid injections did not exacerbate radiographic progression of knee osteoarthritis or accelerate total knee replacement compared with hyaluronic acid, according to data presented at ACR Convergence 2020.

Among patients using long-term glucocorticoids, denosumab is superior to alendronate in increasing bone mineral density in the spine after 1 year, according to a speaker at ACR Convergence 2020.

Patients with primary knee osteoarthritis who received at least 3 months of oral methotrexate demonstrated significant improvement in physical function and inflammation vs. patients who received glucosamine, noted a presenter at ACR 2020.

An international team of researchers has identified key clinical features of chronic nonbacterial osteomyelitis to help develop vital classification criteria.