Arthritis research & therapy
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Arthritis Res. Ther. · Jan 2013
How do people with knee osteoarthritis use osteoarthritis pain medications and does this change over time? Data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative.
The aim of this analysis was to describe comprehensively the cross-sectional and longitudinal patterns of analgesic and nutraceutical medication use for knee osteoarthritis (OA) in a contemporary US cohort and to investigate associated demographic and clinical factors. ⋯ Most people with knee OA used pharmacological therapies frequently, and use appeared to be according to American College of Rheumatology recommendations. Change in medication type used was common. Persistent non-prescription NSAID use in older people is an area of concern.
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Arthritis Res. Ther. · Jan 2013
Veterans Affairs databases are accurate for gout-related health care utilization: a validation study.
The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of Veterans Affairs (VA) databases for gout-related health care utilization. ⋯ VA databases are accurate for gout-related visits. These findings support their use for studies of health services and outcome studies. It remains to be seen if these findings are generalizable to other settings and databases.
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Arthritis Res. Ther. · Jan 2013
Randomized Controlled TrialContinuing efficacy of milnacipran following long-term treatment in fibromyalgia: a randomized trial.
Previous studies of long-term treatment response in fibromyalgia and other chronic pain states have generally been limited to approximately one year, leaving questions about the longer-term durability of response. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate continuing efficacy of milnacipran by characterizing changes in pain and other fibromyalgia symptoms after discontinuing long-term treatment. The mean length of milnacipran treatment at the time of randomized withdrawal was 36.1 months from initial exposure to milnacipran (range, 17.9 to 54.4 months). ⋯ Continuing efficacy of milnacipran was demonstrated by the loss of effect following withdrawal of treatment in patients who received an average of three years of milnacipran treatment.
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Arthritis Res. Ther. · Jan 2013
Evaluation of bone marrow lesion volume as a knee osteoarthritis biomarker--longitudinal relationships with pain and structural changes: data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative.
Bone marrow lesion (BML) size may be an important imaging biomarker for osteoarthritis-related clinical trials and reducing BML size may be an important therapeutic goal. However, data on the interrelationships between BML size, pain, and structural progression are inconsistent and rarely examined in the same cohort. Therefore, we evaluated the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of BML volume with knee pain and joint space narrowing (JSN). ⋯ Large baseline BMLs are associated with greater baseline knee pain, the presence of JSN at baseline, and disease progression. Additionally, BML regression is associated with decreased knee pain but not a reduced risk of concurrent JSN progression.
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Arthritis Res. Ther. · Jan 2013
Hyaluronic acid fragments enhance the inflammatory and catabolic response in human intervertebral disc cells through modulation of toll-like receptor 2 signalling pathways.
Intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration is characterized by extracellular matrix breakdown and is considered to be a primary cause of discogenic back pain. Although increases in pro-inflammatory cytokine levels within degenerating discs are associated with discogenic back pain, the mechanisms leading to their overproduction have not yet been elucidated. As fragmentation of matrix components occurs during IVD degeneration, we assessed the potential involvement of hyaluronic acid fragments (fHAs) in the induction of inflammatory and catabolic mediators. ⋯ These findings suggest that fHAs may have the potential to mediate IVD degeneration and discogenic back pain through activation of the TLR2 signaling pathway in resident IVD cells.