Dietary habits in patients with fibromyalgia: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: To the scarce information on dietary habits in fibromyalgia (FM), it is added that there are no comparative studies with other rheumatic diseases. The objective of this study was to characterise the dietary habits of patients with FM by comparing, for the first time, with healthy controls (HC) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: This cross-sectional, observational study was based on data obtained from the Dietfibrom project for FM and from the IMID Consortium for RA and HC. All participants completed a food frequency questionnaire evaluating their weekly dietary intake of main food groups. The three cohorts were compared using a multiple logistic regression model adjusted for age, sex, and body mass index. RESULTS: After quality control, n=287 FM, n=1,983 HC and n=1,942 RA patients were analysed. We found that FM had a profound impact in the diet compared to HC, reducing the consumption of dairy (OR=0.32, p<0.0001), bread and/or whole grain cereals (OR=0.59, p=0.0006), fresh fruit (OR=0.66, P=0.008), and fish (OR=0.64, p=0.002). These same four food groups were also significantly reduced in FM patients in comparison to RA patients (p<0.0005 in all cases). Additionally, a lower consumption of pasta, rice and/or potatoes was also observed in FM compared to RA (OR=0.72, p=0.028). CONCLUSIONS: The present cross-sectional study shows that FM is associated to a significant change in the normal dietary patterns. These results underscore the importance of diet in this prevalent disease and are a warning of the potential long-range effects of a deficient nutritional status.

Correlation of fatigue with other disease related and psychosocial factors in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with tocilizumab: ACT-AXIS study.

To assess the hypothesis if tocilizumab (TCZ) is effective on disease activity, and also its effect in fatigue and other clinical and psychological disease-related factors in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with TCZ.A 24-week, multicenter, prospective, observational study in patients with moderate to severe RA receiving TCZ after failure or intolerance to disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs or tumor necrosis factor-alpha was conducted.Of the 122 patients included, 85 were evaluable for effectiveness (85% female, 51.9 ±â€Š12.5 years, disease duration 8.7 ±â€Š7.4 years). Mean change in C-reactive protein level from baseline to week 12 was -11.2 ±â€Š4.0 (P < .001). Mean Disease Activity Index score (DAS28) decreased from 5.5 ±â€Š1.0 at baseline to 2.7 ±â€Š1.3 (P < .001) at week 24. Mean change in Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy score was -5.4 ±â€Š11.2 points at week 24. Multiple regression analysis showed that the improvement in DAS28, sleep, and depression explained 56% and 47% of fatigue variance at week 12 and 24, respectively.Tocilizumab is effective in reducing disease activity and results in a clinically significant improvement in fatigue, pain, swollen joint count, morning stiffness, sleepiness, depression, and DAS28; the last 3 were specifically identified as factors explaining fatigue variance with the use of TCZ in RA patients.

La Reumatología privada en Cataluña / Private rheumatology in Catalonia, Spain

Objetivo: Conocer el porcentaje de reumatólogos de Cataluña que atienden a pacientes privados, los procesos reumatológicos más comunes en la consulta privada, determinar la dedicación a la asistencia y las actividades necesarias para garantizar una correcta asistencia: formación continuada, gestión de la consulta y conocer que técnicas son usuales. Material y métodos: Mediante encuesta personalizada a los reumatólogos de los que pudimos conseguir sus datos de correo electrónico. Se sometió a análisis 52 respuestas. Resultados: El porcentaje de varones (52%) y mujeres (48%) es similar, un 33% trabaja exclusivamente en reumatología privada (RP), la mayoría en hospitales o equipos médicos y un 11% trabaja solos. El 27% realiza formación; la enfermedad más frecuentemente atendida es la artrosis, el 51% realiza estudios o ensayos clínicos en el ámbito de la RP. Conclusiones: El concepto de RP como un negocio particular va cambiando y se está convirtiendo en unidades con una estructura de trabajo similar a los hospitales públicos con formación reglada. Este trabajo aporta nuevos datos sobre la actividad que se realiza y características del grupo

Objective: To establish the percentage of Catalonian rheumatologists who attended to private patients, to understand the most common processes in private practice, to determine the dedication to patient care and the necessary activities to guarantee proper care, such as continuing education and office management, and to know what techniques were most widely used. Material and methods: A personalized survey of Catalonian rheumatologists whose e-mail addresses were made available to us. Fifty-two responses were analyzed. Results: The percentage of men (52%) and women (48%) was similar; 33% worked exclusively in private rheumatology (PR), most of them in hospitals or medical teams; 11% worked alone; 27% were in training. The disease most frequently treated was osteoarthritis; 51% were involved in studies or clinical trials in the field of RP. Conclusions: The concept of RP as a private business is changing and is progressively being transformed into working units with a structure similar to public hospitals with formal training. This report provides new data on the activities and characteristics of private rheumatologists

Private rheumatology in Catalonia, Spain. / La Reumatología privada en Cataluña.

OBJECTIVE: To establish the percentage of Catalonian rheumatologists who attended to private patients, to understand the most common processes in private practice, to determine the dedication to patient care and the necessary activities to guarantee proper care, such as continuing education and office management, and to know what techniques were most widely used. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A personalized survey of Catalonian rheumatologists whose e-mail addresses were made available to us. Fifty-two responses were analyzed. RESULTS: The percentage of men (52%) and women (48%) was similar; 33% worked exclusively in private rheumatology (PR), most of them in hospitals or medical teams; 11% worked alone; 27% were in training. The disease most frequently treated was osteoarthritis; 51% were involved in studies or clinical trials in the field of RP. CONCLUSIONS: The concept of RP as a private business is changing and is progressively being transformed into working units with a structure similar to public hospitals with formal training. This report provides new data on the activities and characteristics of private rheumatologists.