Journal of clinical rheumatology : practical reports on rheumatic & musculoskeletal diseases
-
[This corrects the article on p. S11 in vol. 17, issue 4 suppl 2, PMID: 21654264. Kamatani Naoyuki should be Naoyuki Kamatani and Hosoya Tatsuo should be Tatsuo Hosoya.].
-
Comparative Study
Multiple psychological factors are associated with poorer functioning in a sample of community-dwelling knee osteoarthritis patients.
Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common type of arthritis and imposes a heavy burden on individual welfare among elderly people. There is preliminary evidence that psychological factors play a role in functional ability and pain in knee OA patients, particularly with respect to the surgery outcome. Less is known about psychological factors among community-dwelling patients with knee OA. ⋯ The results reveal that both pain self-efficacy and negatively charged emotion and expectations toward pain are important factors when dealing with knee OA patients. Failure to consider these will probably contribute to prolonged disability and further pain. The results call for the routine assessment of multiple psychological factors in knee OA.
-
Obese rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients have higher levels of pain, disability, and disease activity than do nonobese patients with RA. Patients' health-related thoughts about arthritis and weight may be important to consider in obese patients with RA who face the dual challenge of managing RA and weight. ⋯ Pain catastrophizing, self-efficacy for arthritis, and self-efficacy for weight management each contributed uniquely to relate to key outcomes in obese patients with RA. Clinicians should consider assessment of thought processes when assessing and intervening with patients who face dual health challenges; unique intervention approaches may be needed for addressing the challenges of arthritis and weight.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Effects of milnacipran on the multidimensional aspects of fatigue and the relationship of fatigue to pain and function: pooled analysis of 3 fibromyalgia trials.
Fatigue is a core symptom in fibromyalgia that can negatively affect a patient's quality of life. ⋯ Fibromyalgia patients in the milnacipran studies had high levels of baseline fatigue. Patients receiving milnacipran had statistically significant and clinically meaningful reductions in fatigue that were not completely attributable to indirect treatment effects through pain reduction. Evaluating and managing fatigue are an important clinical concern when treating patients with fibromyalgia.
-
Hyperimmunoglobulin D and periodic fever syndrome (HIDS) is a rare, autoinflammatory condition caused by mutations in the mevalonate kinase gene. There is no standard treatment for HIDS, and randomized controlled trials are lacking. ⋯ Interleukin 6 blockade in HIDS has not been described. We report the case of a 13-year-old girl with HIDS, who failed to respond to colchicine, corticosteroids, etanercept, and anakinra but was successfully treated with the anti-IL-6 monoclonal antibody, tocilizumab.