The Evidence Based Rheumatology Podcast

Informative podcast this week with Dr. Alexander Oldroyd, the first author of the recently published "International Guideline for Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathy-Associated Cancer Screening." The article itself appeared in Nature Reviews Rheumatology and provides what I think is a very useful framework for approaching this issue.

Article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41584-023-01045-w

Quick methodology episode this week discussing the concept of "fragility" in randomized controlled trials of lupus. Really enjoyed discussing this paper and was grateful to have been a part of it. Get the text here: https://lupus.bmj.com/content/lupusscimed/11/1/e001068.full.pdf

Today I'm taking another twitter discussion into the podcast realm! Dr. Bhaskar Dasgupta has published hundreds of papers about polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arteritis, including a recent publication in Nature Reviews: Rheumatology that piqued my interest (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41584-023-00976-8). 

 

In this podcast we discuss screening for GCA among patients with PMR, what it means to have a diagnosis, the role of novel IL-6 inhibitors, and many other topics. Have a listen and follow me @ebrheum and Dr. Dasgupta @profbdasgupta

Interesting topic and interesting paper this year, including discussion of observational biases, positive and negative controls, and interpreting data as it comes. 

 

Paper: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2810259

Important trial on the podcast this week! I take a deep dive into the recently published SAPHYR study, which evaluated the use of the IL6 inhibitor sarilumab for patients with PMR. A few aggravating quibbles but overall a very useful trial and an important step forward for patients with PMR.

 

Article: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2303452

This week I took a twitter disagreement from the impersonal world of twitter to the podcast world of a back and forth conversation. Really enjoyed talking to Dr. Len Calabrese about monoclonal antibodies, FDA regulatory pathways, and life in general. 

Excited to share an editorial that I wrote along with Cody Bruggemeyer and Desh Nepal, two trainees with me at the Medical College of Wisconsin. We discussed what I believe to be a pervasive (but seldom discussed) issue in rheumatology RCTs: unblinding. I suspect many of our studies suffer from this. Have a listen! 

Happy to share the FIRST randomized trial in CPPD today. It's kind of a weird study but worth a quick discussion. 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665991323001650

This week I dive into the health related quality of life measures that were reported in the ADVOCATE study. I found them overall somewhat convincing and they have affected my practice. Have a listen and be sure to follow along. Find my work at ebrheum.com 

Quick episode this week from a recent Perspective piece I had published in the New England Journal. Have a listen or a read!

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2304828