Rheumatology

ORLANDO — Rheumatology nurses are necessary for helping to care for “the whole patient” with scleroderma, including its various manifestations and impacts on the patients’ social, mental, personal and physical health, according to Benjamin D. Korman, MD, of the University of Rochester.

ORLANDO — As the obesity epidemic continues to grow in the United States, it is critical that health care providers confront patient misconceptions about the causes of obesity and how the surplus of “nutritionally-bankrupt food” has contributed to a rise in such chronic diseases, according to a presentation at the Rheumatology Nurses Society Annual Conference.

ORLANDO — Among patients with rheumatoid arthritis, the presence of serum anti-citrullinated protein antibodies with erosive disease is a predictor of high health care use, according to data presented at the 2019 Rheumatology Nurses Society Annual Conference.

ORLANDO — Decreased sexual functioning is more common among female patients with rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis, which should prompt early screenings for these patient populations, according to study findings presented at the Rheumatology Nurses Society Annual Conference.

ORLANDO — Patients with rheumatologic diseases who are educated about the disease process and the pharmacodynamics of their treatments are more likely to continue to adhere to their therapies, according to a presentation at the Rheumatology Nurses Society Annual Conference.

ORLANDO — As rheumatology treatments continue to advance and grow more complex, the need for teamwork among physicians, nurse practitioners, registered nurses and other health care professionals has never been more important, according to Adam J. Brown, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic.

ORLANDO — All infusion suite staff, including nurses and physicians, should participate in code drills to help them prepare for anaphylactoid reactions, heart attacks or any other adverse events that could arise while administering the treatment, according to Timothy R. Walker, RN.

A patient diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis at 18 to 40 years of age carries a greater risk for joint surgery than someone aged 60 years or older in the general population, according to findings published in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Poverty does not increase the risk for total knee replacement failure or revision among black or white patients, and fails to explain observed racial disparities associated with the procedure, according to data published in Arthritis Care & Research.

Patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis who were placed in a splint to encourage rest following intra-articular corticosteroid injection, or IACI, demonstrated no significant benefit against recurrent arthritis compared with those who were not given a splint, according to findings published in Pediatric Rheumatology.