Osteoarthritis and Bone Disorders News

The FDA on Tuesday approved the monoclonal antibody romosozumab to treat osteoporosis in postmenopausal women at high risk for fracture, according to a press release from the agency.

The New York attorney general, Letitia James, has filed a lawsuit against a Manhattan stem cell clinic and the physician running it for allegedly selling unproven treatments for lupus and other autoimmune conditions, among others.

Although disease burden, as measured by health assessment questionnaires, is similar among patients with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis at the time of initial visit, those with osteoarthritis demonstrate greater burden scores 6 months later, according to data published in Arthritis & Rheumatology.

When explaining the procedural benefits and risks to patients considering total knee replacement, supplementing statistical information with visual aids was associated with stronger preferences for the procedure, according to recent findings published in Arthritis Care & Research.

An initial prescription of tramadol for osteoarthritis among patients aged 50 years and older is associated with a significantly increased risk for mortality over 1 year, compared with commonly used NSAIDs, but not codeine, according to data published in JAMA.

Knee pain is not associated with the number of steps per day walked among patients with mild or moderate symptomatic knee osteoarthritis, according to findings published in Arthritis Care & Research.

Approximately 40% of patients who present with hip complaints, but fail to meet American College of Rheumatology criteria for hip osteoarthritis, developed the condition at 2- to 5-years follow-up, according to recent findings published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.

According to a presentation at the Association of Academic Physiatrists Annual Meeting, an increase in joint inflammation was seen when patients with knee osteoarthritis walked a golf course; however, for both walking the course and the use of a motorized golf cart, there were signs of cartilage remodeling effects. The study also demonstrated a potential need to individualize golfing modes of transportation based on patient symptoms and diseases.

The American Orthopaedic Association announced it will launch an orthopedic-focused teleECHO program for its Own the Bone program in spring 2019 in conjunction with Project ECHO. The American Orthopaedic Association is the second specialty society to launch a teleECHO program.

Osteonecrosis of the jaw was a rare complication among older postmenopausal women with osteoporosis treated with denosumab for at least 3 years, despite 45% of women undergoing an invasive oral procedure while receiving treatment, according to findings published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.