Dr Cannon concludes: "In clinical practice, the choice of anti-inflammatory
agent needs to take into consideration the risk for thrombotic cardiovascular
and gastrointestinal events, as well as congestive heart failure
and other renovascular effects (eg, blood pressure, fluid retention),
gastrointestinal tolerability (eg, dyspepsia), and efficacy. The
data from this large randomised clinical trial should help clinicians
and patients, and will hopefully encourage guideline committees
to develop recommendations for optimum treatment of patients with
arthritis."
###
*NSAID - non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug **Cardiovascular disease
- class of diseases that involve the heart and/or blood vessels
The MEDAL results were presented at the late-breaking clinical trial
session at the American Heart association's (AHA) Scientific Sessions
on November 13, 2006.
Contact: Joe Santangelo
Lancet
Depression treatment helps arthritis
Main Category: Depression News
Article Date: 12 Nov 2003 - 0:00 PST
Treating elderly patients for depression can help ease arthritis
pain, an unexpected and hopeful finding for sufferers of the degenerative
joint disease, the author of a study released on Tuesday said.
Depression affects roughly one in six older Americans, while four
out of five suffer degenerative joint disease after age 70, according
to the study in the newest issue of The Journal of the American
Medical Association.
Older people treated for depression with medication and therapy
not only showed fewer symptoms of that depression after a year,
but their arthritis symptoms eased as well, the study showed.
They had less pain and less interference with daily activities
due to arthritis, it showed.
'This was a very interesting, somewhat unexpected benefit of depression
treatment. This was not something that we knew we would find,' said
Dr. Elizabeth Lin, the study's lead author.
Given there is no known cure for arthritis, 'it was nice, encouraging
news,' she said. 'We were just so delighted to see improvement in
the arthritis area.'
The study is the first to look at the effect of depression treatment
on arthritis, she said. It included 1,801 depressed adults over
age 60 in five states from July 1999 to August 2001.
Chiropractic For Arthritis - Benefits, Concerns, Side Effects,
And Effectiveness
Main Category: Arthritis News
Article Date: 23 Nov 2006 - 14:00 PST
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The word ARTHRITIS means inflammation of the joint. Arthritis can
affect a person at any age. Sometimes the symptoms of arthritis
are called rheumatism. Eight classes of arthritis and related conditions
have been identified. These are:
Inflammatory - the membrane of the joint becomes irritated
Attachment Arthritis - frequently in the heels and lower back,
the ligament or tendon fastened to the bone becomes irritated
Crystal Arthritis - the big toe has deposits of microscopic crystals
of sodium urate
Joint Infection - bacteria contaminate the fluid inside the joint,
usually found in the hip, shoulder and knee
Cartilage Degeneration - usually found in the knees, neck, lower
back, hips and fingers, this type of arthritis arises when the cartilage
of the joint breaks down
Muscle Inflammation - muscle tissue becomes inflamed
Local Conditions - a local injury causes pain, such as tennis elbow
General Conditions - a condition characterized by generalized muscle
pain and sleep disturbance.
Chiropractic is a remedial system that centers on the structure
of the body. Daniel David Palmer gave the first chiropractic treatment
in 1895. He derived the name chiropractic from the Greek CHEIR meaning
hand, and PRAKTIKOS meaning practice or perform. Treatment is adapted
to suit the age, build, pain levels and general health of the individual.
Treatment schedules depend on whether your problem is acute or chronic,
and on your age and general health.
The chiropractic treatment for arthritis depends on whether the
practitioner is a straight or mixed chiropractor. The body is permitted
to cure itself by straight chiropractors, who treat arthritis by
working with the spine to correct subluxation and other imbalances.
The mixed chiropractor will probably treat arthritis and other remedies
such as acpupressure mixed with manipulation.
X-rays of many people in their 20's show that arthritis is not
just an old age thing. Chiropractor Dr. Lynn Kelly has identified
the number one cause of arthritis as being joints that aren't moving
properly because of misalignments of the bones that form them. Your
spine is a group of cylinder-shaped bones with knobs on the backs
and side of each bone that fit into grooves in the neighboring vertebra,
and a chiropractor can evaluate these joints for you.
Chiropractic adjustments are painless for most patients. Tiny pockets
of gas are relieved from the joints when your vertebrae are adjusted,
making a "popping" noise. Dozens of research studies have
recognized the safety and helpfulness of chiropractic care. Chiropractors
are also taught to identify when damage is outside of their scope
of practice and will refer patients to the proper medical specialist
if needed.
The small joints of the body can be damaged by rheumatoid arthritis,
as with any joint in the body. One in five to one in three patients
with RA have spinal involvement. If you're an RA patient with spinal
involvement, you should not have chiropractic manipulation done,
as it can cause your spinal instability to worsen.
by: Adam O'Connor
www.backhealthpro.com
Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment With Methotrexate Effective The
Second Time
Main Category: Arthritis News
Article Date: 27 Feb 2006 - 5:00 PST
A second course of methotrexate, the most commonly used drug to
treat rheumatoid arthritis, is effective in nearly half of studied
patients for whom a previous treatment with the drug was ineffective.
These are the results of a study published today in Arthritis Research
& Therapy, which also shows that a second treatment with methotrexate
is particularly effective in patients who were given low dose methotrexate
in their first treatment.
Theresa Kapral and colleagues from the Medical University of Vienna,
Austria recruited patients with rheumatoid arthritis who had had
at least two treatments with an anti-arthritis drug.
Kapral et al. identified 79 patients who had had a second methotrexate
treatment lasting at least a year. The patients had terminated the
first treatment either because it was ineffective or because of
adverse events. Forty-two (53.2%) patients had an effective second
treatment. The second treatment was effective in 23 (45.1%) of the
patients who had stopped treatment because of inefficacy. Sixteen
(66.7%) of the patients who had initially stopped treatment because
of adverse events had a successful second treatment. The second
treatment was more than twice as likely to be successful if the
methotrexate dose in the first treatment had been low (lower or
equal to 10mg per week) than if it had been high (greater than 17.5mg
per week). There was no difference in efficacy between first and
second treatment for other anti-arthritis drugs.
Physicians treating rheumatoid arthritis are in need of therapeutic
options especially for patients with a history of repeated drug
failures. The results of this study indicate that renewed institution
of methotrexate might be one option that could be considered for
the treatment of these patients.
###
Article:
Methotrexate Reemployment in Rheumatoid Arthritis is Frequently
Effective Despite Its Earlier Failure Theresa Kapral, Tanja Stamm,
Klaus P Machold, Karin Montag, Josef S Smolen and Daniel Aletaha
Arthritis Research and Therapy 2006, 8: R46 (doi:10.1186/ar1902)
Contact: Juliette Savin
juliette.savin@biomedcentral.com
BioMed Central
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