Rheumatoid Arthritis News

Treatment recommendations for rheumatoid arthritis among patients with cancer “often fail” to meet expected criteria methodology, and although there is broad support for exercising caution when prescribing disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, there remains a lack of consensus in other area, according to data published in Arthritis Care & Research.

The FDA has issued a warning letter to Nutra Pharma Corp., ordering the company to cease what it describes as illegal marketing of unapproved homeopathic products that claim to treat opioid addiction as well as chronic pain associated with rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, cancer, diabetes and other serious conditions.

Faced with an increasing incidence and prevalence of autoimmune disease in the United States —approximately 23.5 million Americans are affected across the country, according to the NIH — Bonnie Feldman, MBA, DDS, says it is time to acknowledge what she calls “an invisible epidemic.”

Siblings of patients with rheumatoid arthritis demonstrate an increased risk for acute cardiac syndrome, according to data published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

First Nations populations in Manitoba, Canada, experienced increased incidence and prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis compared with non-Native populations, according to findings in the Journal of Clinical Rheumatology.

The Vectra multi-biomarker disease score, as determined by the Vectra molecular blood test, is a more successful predictor of radiographic progression in patients with rheumatoid arthritis than the DAS28-CRP or C-reactive protein, according to findings published in Current Medical Research & Opinion.

A delayed initial treatment, as well as female sex and a higher disease activity, are major predictors of refractory rheumatoid arthritis, according to data published in Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism.

Individuals who have quit smoking for a sustained period of time — 30 or more years — have a 37% reduced risk for seropositive rheumatoid arthritis, compared with those who quit between 0 and 5 years ago, according to data published in Arthritis Care & Research.

The incidence rate of upper limb joint replacements among patients with rheumatoid arthritis decreased from 2002 onward, coinciding with the introduction of biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, although other factors may have contributed, according to findings published in Arthritis Care & Research.

Withholding abatacept for 4 weeks or more prior to hip or knee replacement surgery did not lower the risk for infection among patients with rheumatoid arthritis, according to data published in Arthritis Care & Research.