Trending News Today: Opioid Use Hospitalizations Increasing Across Certain Rheumatic Diseases

A study presented at the 2019 American College of Rheumatology annual meeting showed that hospitalizations associated with opioid use disorder (OUD) have increased exponentially since 2000 across patients with 5 rheumatic diseases, MD Magazine reported. According to the article, the study assessed current rates of opioid abuse and associated mortality through a retrospective study using the US National Inpatient Sample from 1998 to 2016. Across 5 conditions (gout, rheumatoid arthritis, lower back pain, fibromyalgia, and osteoarthritis), OUD hospitalizations increased to varying degrees, with the most hospitalizations occurring among patients with gout, the article reported.

Celgene’s luspatercept-aamt (Reblozyl), which was just approved by the FDA for the treatment of anemia in beta thalassemia, will be priced at $3441 for a 25-mg vial, Reuters reported. According to the article, a 75-mg vial of luspatercept-aamt will be available at a wholesale acquisition cost of $10,323.53 per vial. A typical dose of luspatercept-aamt consists of 1 mg of the drug per kilogram of a patient’s weight, the article reported.

A recent study suggests that the age of psoriasis onset may determine whether arthritis or psoriasis starts first in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA), The American Journal of Managed Care reported. According to the article, the study included 1631 patients and assessed the absolute time elapsed in months after skin disease to arthritis. Overall, the analysis showed a 65-month delay of arthritis onset after psoriasis when other independent variables are set to their baseline values and an increased delay for nail involvement, plaque psoriasis, or family history by approximately 2 years for each characteristic, the article reported.