Rheumatology News Roundup: Mobile Apps in Healthcare Research

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This week from Rheumatology Network, vitamin D and fish oil do not offer long lasting relief from chronic knee pain, according to the authors of a study published in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatology.

The study included nearly 1,400 patients who experienced no statistically significant improvements in pain.

And, in another story, we featured a report from France that showed spondyloarthritis patients who are self-isolating at home due to COVID-19 say their condition has gotten worse since the beginning of the pandemic.

Researchers attribute this to misinformation that is online. Its apparently led to high rates of patients discontinuing or cutting back on their medications without consulting a doctor.

And, also this week, we featured a study that shows the blood thinner ticagrelor, a P2Y12 platelet inhibitor used to prevent stroke, has showed signs of preventing the development of osteoarthritis in patients later in life. The findings may open the door to new research for the prevention of osteoarthritis in high risk patients.

And, this week we posted a slideshow on how best to address fatigue in rheumatoid arthritis patients. In last weekend’s interview we featured a physician who spoke on the prevalence of fatigue in rheumatoid arthritis. This week’s slideshow highlighted best practices for treating fatigue. You can find that slideshow online at rheumatologynetwork.com

And, finally, in today’s interview, we talk with Ben Nowell, Ph.D., of the Global Healthy Living Foundation. Dr. Nowell is director of Patient Centered Research for the organization which conducts observational and interventional research on rheumatic disease.

In 2014, they launched Arthritis Power, a patient registry and app used as the basis for research. This year, they’ve presented new data on patient-reported outcomes and the use of smartwatches to capture patient-reported outcomes data.

Apps like Arthritis Power have become an effective tool to track healthcare outcomes from conditions ranging from arthritis to the coronavirus.

In today’s interview, Dr. Nowell tells us about the importance of this research.