A diet and exercise program delivered in community settings may improve some clinical outcomes for people with knee osteoarthritis and overweight or obesity, suggest findings from the WE-CAN pragmatic randomized controlled trial.

Findings from a randomized controlled trial provide further evidence to support the beneficial impact of physical activity in people with spondyloarthritis.

Bennell et al conclude: “Our results are promising, but further research is needed to fully establish the effects of unsupervised online yoga and to potentially improve on our program in order to enhance treatment benefits.” medwireNews is an independent medical news service provided by Springer Healthcare Ltd. © 2022 Springer Healthcare Ltd, part of the Springer Nature Group Ann Intern Med 2022; doi:10.7326/M22-1761

Discussing their findings, the investigators suggest that women in the PreCARA cohort may have received more intensive treatment than earlier patients and have less physical disability during pregnancy, as reflected by the lower rate of erosive disease in the PreCARA versus PARA participants.

“For many years, treatment of JIA consisted of corticosteroids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs [NSAIDs], physical therapy, bracing and surgery,” said lead author Karen Onel (Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, USA) in a press release.

A 48-week course of pulsed low-intensity ultrasonography does not reduce symptoms or slow cartilage loss in patients with idiopathic knee osteoarthritis relative to sham treatment, US study findings indicate.

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How can rheumatologists respond to the challenges associated with rituximab use during the pandemic?

They also note that TKR was associated with significantly lower rates of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use at 1–2 years after surgery (46.2 vs 53.8% in the non-TKR group), albeit with “much higher” doses in the TKR group around the time of surgery. medwireNews is an independent medical news service provided by Springer Healthcare Ltd. © 2021 Springer Healthcare Ltd, part of the Springer Nature Group Osteoarthritis Cartilage 2021; doi:10.1016/j.joca.2021.09.015.

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The effects on depression were generally comparable, which the researchers speculate may be due to the fact that “relatively few patients had elevated baseline depression scores.”

High-intensity strength training does not significantly reduce pain or knee joint compressive forces among people with knee osteoarthritis, suggest findings from the START trial.

Experts discuss the increasing use of telemedicine in rheumatology during the COVID-19 pandemic.

An 8-week intensive course of electro-acupuncture could improve pain and function in patients with knee osteoarthritis, with the effects lasting for up to 26 weeks, Chinese research shows.

The studies included 65 different therapies that fell into the categories of single nonpharmacologic treatments (n=36), combinations of two or more nonpharmacologic treatments (n=8), pharmacologic treatments (n=17), combinations of two or more pharmacologic treatments (n=3), or a combination of pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic therapy (n=1).