In patients with inflammatory diseases without diabetes, treatment with low-dose prednisolone has deleterious effects on carbohydrate metabolism.
Few randomized clinical trials have been done to assess clinical prediction rules for patients with lower back pain, and the trials that have been done are of low quality and do not provide sufficient evidence to support their use.
The American College of Rheumatology recently announced a new easy-to-use curriculum and tools aimed to help medical professionals advance the diagnosis, treatment, and management of lupus.
Increased loading of the lumbar spine, arising from lifestyle activities (such as lifting heavy objects, more frequent pregnancy, and higher body mass index), could contribute to the degenerative process and lead to development of degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis (DLSS).
The presence of retrolisthesis in patients undergoing decompressive surgery for a lumbar disc herniation may result in significantly worse lower back pain and physical function over four years.
Long-term use of painkillers for back pain is tied to an increased risk of erectile dysfunction.
Combination therapy with teriparatide and denosumab may be most effective in treating postmenopausal women with osteoporosis at risk for fracture.
Among patients with painful osteoporotic vertebral fractures, there is no benefit to vertebral body stenting over balloon kyphoplasty.
Compared to clinical diagnosis of synovitis, ultrasound-detected synovitis provides either improved sensitivity or specificity when used with the American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism (ACR/EULAR) criteria for identifying patients with a disease requiring methotrexate (MTX) treatment.
Military personnel with acute lower back pain (LBP) who receive chiropractic manipulative therapy (CMT) in addition to standard medical care (SMC) show significantly improved scores for pain relief and physical functioning, compared to those receiving only SMC.
