Nurse-led programs help patients self-manage RA

Positive impact on physician prescribing and disease co-morbidities

2013-06-14

(Press-News.org) Madrid, Spain, 14 June 2013: Data first presented today at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism demonstrate the benefits of a nurse-led programme on patient self-management and the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) co-morbidities.

The COMEDRA study was a six-month trial involving patients with RA who attended one of the twenty participating treatment centres in France. Patients were randomly allocated to one of two arms of the trial; the evaluation of nurse-led programmes on patient self-assessment or on the management of co-morbidities.

Within six months the patient self-assessment arm showed 89% of patients completed self-assessment and calculated their Disease Activity Score (DAS). The results were shared with their treating rheumatologist, which resulted in 17.2% changing their drug therapy (p=0.0012).1 Regular assessment of disease activity enables measurement of disease status over time (e.g. flares); while unfeasible in the clinic these data show that it can be undertaken by nurses and patients.

RA patients are at increased risk of associated diseases such as cardiovascular disease (CVD) or infections. In the arm where a nurse-led programme assessed potential co-morbidities and risk factors, at 6 months the number of actions taken to reduce co-morbidities, per patient, was significantly higher (p END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

High prevalence of NSAID prescription in those at risk of heart attack/death in primary care

2013-06-14

Madrid, Spain, 14 June 2013: New study data presented today at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, demonstrate a high prevalence of NSAID prescriptions in patients at risk of ischaemic heart disease (IHD). Published evidence suggest significant cardiovascular implications of NSAIDs for patients, with an immediate mortality risk demonstrated in patients who had suffered a myocardial infarction (MI, heart attack) even when prescribed treatment duration was less than one week.2 NSAIDs are used to relieve pain and signs of inflammation, ...

Overweight and obese patients less likely to achieve remission in early RA

2013-06-14

Madrid, Spain, 14 June 2013: A new study presented today at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, shows that overweight and obese patients are less likely to achieve successful remission in early rheumatoid arthritis (ERA) compared to those of normal weight. Obese and overweight ERA subjects required 2.4 times more anti-TNF therapy throughout the study than normal weight participants without achieving similar remission outcomes. RA is a chronic, inflammatory autoimmune disease affecting approximately 1 in 100 people worldwide. RA ...

Novel biomarkers improve diagnosis in rheumatoid arthritis

2013-06-14

Madrid, Spain, 12 June 2013: Data presented at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, show that novel antibody biomarkers could significantly improve diagnosis in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Four candidate biomarkers – UH-RA.1, UH-RA.9, UH-RA.14 and UH-RA.21 – were investigated; as a group they demonstrated 85% specificity for RA, and were present in both early and seronegative disease, with 36% of early RA and 24% of RF- and ACCP -negative patients testing positive. RA is a chronic autoimmune disease characterised by inflammation ...

A turbocharger for nerve cells

2013-06-14

This news release is available in German. Locating a car that's blowing its horn in heavy traffic, channel-hopping between football and a thriller on TV without losing the plot, and not forgetting the start of a sentence by the time we have read to the end – we consider all of these to be normal everyday functions. They enable us to react to fast-changing circumstances and to carry out even complex activities correctly. For this to work, the neuron circuits in our brain have to be very flexible. Scientists working under the leadership of neurobiologists Nils Brose ...

From Botswanan big cats to Surrey house cats

2013-06-14

Scientists who designed GPS tracking collars to study hunting cheetahs in Botswana have miniaturised them to track 50 domestic cats in a Surrey village for a BBC programme. The BBC also deployed cat-cams which were turned on by the collar's activity sensor when the cat was moving. 'The Secret Life of The Cat' is broadcast on BBC Two Horizon on Thursday June 13th 2013 at 21:00. In a first study of its kind the wanderings of our feline friends were recorded, revealing how far they roamed and what they got up to once they leave their owners behind. The team were concerned ...

Researchers explode the myth about running injuries

2013-06-14

If you are healthy and plan to start running for the first time, it is perfectly all right to put on a pair of completely ordinary 'neutral' running shoes without any special support. Even though your feet overpronate when you run – i.e. roll inwards. There appears to be no risk that overpronation or underpronation can lead to running injuries through using neutral shoes for this special group of healthy beginners. This is the result of a study conducted at Aarhus University which has just been published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine under the title "Foot ...

Incontinence takes mental toll on younger women

2013-06-14

Research from the University of Adelaide shows middle-aged women are more likely to suffer depression from a common medical problem that they find too embarrassing to talk about: urinary incontinence. However, help is available for women if they seek medical advice, researchers say. In a study of the experiences of women with urinary incontinence, researcher Jodie Avery found that middle-aged women with incontinence (aged 43-65) were more likely to be depressed than older women (aged 65-89). Speaking in the lead up to World Continence Week (24-30 June), Ms Avery says ...

Discovery of how a gene that regulates factors involved in bacteria pathogenicity acts

2013-06-14

In a piece of work carried out by the Carbohydrate Metabolism Research Team of the Institute of Agrobiotechnology (a centre jointly owned by the NUP/UPNA-Public University of Navarre, the Spanish National Scientific Research Council-CSIC, and the Government of Navarre), the discovery has been made of the way in which the glgS gene (now renamed as the "surface composition regulator", scoR) acts in bacteria and how the mechanisms involved in bacterial infection can be altered by manipulating this gene, which indirectly affects glycogen production. The finding has been protected ...

Predicting collective online behavior

2013-06-14

A new study shows that small websites, in terms of daily user flux based on number of clicks, have a disproportionally high impact when it comes to traffic generation and influence compared to larger websites. These findings, about to be published in EPJ B, have implications for estimating the value of sites and related advertising revenue. They result from the work of Lingfei Wu from the City University of Hong Kong and Jiang Zhang from the School of Management, at Beijing Normal University, China. Previous studies have analysed hyperlinks, while individual browsing ...

Older patients will make lifestyle changes to avoid fractures, study finds

2013-06-14

TORONTO, June 14, 2013—Older patients who know they are at risk of fractures will make positive lifestyle changes to avoid them, such as exercising, wearing proper footwear and taking supplements, a new study has found. The findings are important because much previous research in bone health has focused on medications or found that people make negative lifestyle changes such as reducing housework or leisure activities because they are afraid of falling, said Dr. Joanna Sale, a researcher at St. Michael's Hospital and lead author of the study. Half of all women over the ...

Music for the brain: Study tests the effect of slow-tempo relaxing music to address delirium in critically ill older adults

90% of Science Is Lost: Frontiers’ revolutionary AI-powered service transforms data sharing to deliver breakthroughs faster

Skin symptoms may forewarn mental health risks

Brain test predicts ability to achieve orgasm – but only in patients taking antidepressants

[Press-News.org] Nurse-led programs help patients self-manage RA
Positive impact on physician prescribing and disease co-morbidities

Nurse-led programs help patients self-manage RA

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: