67 documents found, page 1 of 7

Prevalence of Vitamin D Deficiency and its Predictors in the Portuguese Populat...

Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent worldwide, but its prevalence is unknown in adult Portuguese population. In Portugal, 66% of adults present Vitamin D insufficiency/deficiency. Winter, living in Azores, older age, and obesity were the most important risk factors. It highlights the need of strategies to prevent vitamin D deficiency in Portugal. Objective: To estimate the prevalence and risk factors of vitamin D...

Suppressing inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis: Does patient global assessmen...

In current management paradigms of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), patient global assessment (PGA) is crucial to decide whether a patient has attained remission (target) or needs reinforced therapy. We investigated whether the clinical and psychological determinants of PGA are appropriate to support this important role.

Exercise echocardiography for the assessment of pulmonary hypertension in syste...

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) complicates the course of systemic sclerosis (SSc) and is associated with poor prognosis. The elevation of systolic pulmonary arterial pressure (sPAP) during exercise in patients with SSc with normal resting haemodynamics may anticipate the development of PAH. Exercise echocardiography (ExEcho) has been proposed as a useful technique to identify exercise-induced...

The burden of osteoporotic hip fractures in Portugal: costs, health related qua...

The study rationale was to provide a detailed overview of the costs, quality of life and mortality of hip fractures in Portugal. Mean individual fracture-related costs were estimated at <euro>13,434 [12,290; 14,576] for the first year and <euro>5985 [4982; 7045] for the second year following the fracture. INTRODUCTION: Osteoporotic fractures represent a remarkable burden to health care systems and societies wor...

Outcome Measures in Polymyalgia Rheumatica. A Systematic Review

OBJECTIVE: To identify the instruments used to assess polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) in published studies. METHODS: A systematic literature review of clinical trials and longitudinal observational studies related to PMR, published from 1970 to 2014, was carried out. All outcome and assessment instruments were extracted and categorized according to core areas and domains, as defined by the OMERACT (Outcome Measure...

Psychological factors associated with response to treatment in rheumatoid arthr...

This paper presents a comprehensive review of research relating psychological domains with response to therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. A holistic approach to the disease was adopted by incorporating not only disease activity but also dimensions of the impact of disease on patients' lives. Psychological distress, including depression and anxiety, is common among patients with rheumatoid arthritis ...

The Portuguese Society of Rheumatology position paper on the use of biosimilars

Biotechnological drugs have become a fundamental resource for the treatment of rheumatic patients. Patent expiry of some of these drugs created the opportunity for biopharmaceutical manufacturers to develop biosimilar drugs intended to be as efficacious as the originator product but with a lower cost to healthcare systems. Due to the complex manufacturing process and highly intricate structure of biologicals, a...

Virtual touch imaging and quantification: a new non-invasive imaging: Method to...

Shear-Wave Elastography: Is it possible to distinguish “unaffected” skin in scl...

Paraneoplastic sclerodermiform syndrome--case report.

Occasionally, auto-immune diseases may emerge as paraneoplastic syndromes. This is especially recognized in the case of polymyositis/dermatomyostis, but it is an extremely rare event in systemic sclerosis (SSc). The authors report the case of a sixty-year-old woman who presented with Raynaud's phenomenon and rapidly progressing skin thickness of the forearms, hands and lower limbs. Patient evaluation revealed a...