Rheumatology News Roundup

Network News Roundup: JAK Inhibitors and Rheumatoid Arthritis

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We continue our series on osteoporosis with two study briefs. One from the Archives of Osteoporosis that shows patients with hip and spine fractures rarely have normal bone—even when DXA scans say otherwise.

And, we featured a study that shows the long-term use of corticosteroids by elderly women does not increase their risk of fractures.

And, in rheumatoid arthritis, a study published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine shows that taking low-dose methotrexate may lower the risk of developing skin cancer, gastrointestinal infections, pulmonary disease, and hematologic conditions.

And, from a study published in RMD Open, a rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis does not increase the risk of death in patients who are hospitalized for pneumonia---but this applies only to RA patient with controlled disease activity.

And, researchers writing in Nature Reviews Rheumatology report that rheumatoid arthritis patients have nearly a double risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, heart failure and atrial fibrillation, but they receive poorer primary and secondary preventive care than other high-risk patient groups.

And, we talk with Dr. Kennedy Amaral of Brazil. He is an expert on the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus which can lead to a type of arthritis often mistaken for rheumatoid arthritis. In our Q&A, he highlights the difference.

And, finally, in today’s one-on-one interview, we talk with Vibeke Strand, M.D., an adjunct clinical professor in immunology and rheumatology at Stanford University and a biopharmaceutical consultant who has conducted studies on JAK inhibitors.

Today, we’re talking JAK inhibitors for rheumatoid arthritis and new findings from the journal Arthritis and Rheumatology that shows it has a great deal of promise as monotherapy in rheumatoid arthritis.