Rheumatology
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Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is associated with significant morbidity in adulthood with at least one third of children continuing to have active inflammatory disease into their adult years and up to 60% of all patients continuing to have some limitation of their activities of daily living. A survey of service provision for these young people in the transition from paediatric to adult rheumatology care was therefore undertaken. ⋯ This survey identifies a heterogeneity of provision of healthcare for adolescents with rheumatic disease and highlights the potential for further research and development.
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To determine bone mineral density (BMD) in patients with mild ankylosing spondylitis (AS), to establish the prevalence of vertebral fractures and fracture risk in these patients, and to determine the relationship between BMD and vertebral fractures. ⋯ Spinal and hip osteopenia and vertebral fractures are a feature of mild AS. However, there was no correlation between BMD and vertebral fractures in these patients. AS patients with mild disease had a higher risk of fractures compared with the normal population and this increased with the duration of disease.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
The effect of acupuncture on patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a randomized, placebo-controlled cross-over study.
Acupuncture is commonly used by patients with chronic painful musculoskeletal disorders. There are, however, few well-designed studies of its efficacy. This paper describes a randomized placebo-controlled cross-over design to evaluate acupuncture as a useful treatment adjunct in the management of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). ⋯ Acupuncture of this type cannot be considered as a useful adjunct to therapy in patients with RA. Possible reasons why this is the case are discussed.
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To study the concordance between abdominal scintigraphy using technetium-99m hexamethylpropylene amine oxime (99mTc-HMPAO)-labelled leucocytes (ASTLL) and ileocolonoscopy in patients with spondyloarthropathies (SpA) and without clinical evidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). ⋯ ASTLL may be an interesting tool to detect subclinical gut inflammation in patients with SpA.