Impact of tumour necrosis factor inhibitor treatment on radiographic progression in rheumatoid arthritis patients in clinical practice: results from the nationwide Danish DANBIO registry.

Objectives: To compare radiographic progression during treatment with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD) and subsequent treatment with tumour necrosis factor α inhibitors (TNF-I) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients in clinical practice.

Methods: Conventional radiographs (x-rays) of hands and wrists were obtained ∼2 years before start (prebaseline), at baseline and ∼2 years after start (follow-up) of TNF-I. Clinical data were obtained from the DANBIO registry and the patient files.

Do changes in prescription practice in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with biological agents affect treatment response and adherence to therapy? Results from the nationwide Danish DANBIO Registry.

Background: Prescription practice for tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) inhibitors has changed towards treating patients with lower disease activity.

Objective: To determine the trend in treatment response in cohorts of patients with rheumatoid arthritis who started TNFalpha inhibitor treatment between 2000 and 2005.

Methods: 1813 patients with RA starting treatment with biological agents in 2000-5 were registered prospectively in the nationwide DANBIO Registry.

Do rheumatoid arthritis patients in clinical practice benefit from switching from infliximab to a second tumor necrosis factor alpha inhibitor?

Objective: To investigate the efficacy of switching to a second biological drug in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.

Methods: Since 2000, Danish RA patients (n = 1021) receiving biological therapy have been registered in the nationwide DANBIO database. The first and second treatment series of patients, who switched therapy before 2005 (n = 235), were analysed for their reasons for switching, Disease Activity Score 28 (DAS28), DAS28 improvement, European League against Rheumatology (EULAR) response and drug survival.

[Epidural glucocorticoid injection in lumbago sciatica].

Within the past decades, epidural steroid injections have been used in the treatment of severe low back pain and sciatica. In reviewing papers for this article an effort is made to concentrate on those that meet commonly accepted research design criteria, such as being blinded, randomized and prospective. The risks and the advantages of the procedure are discussed.

Anticardiolipin antibodies and lipoprotein (a) levels in patients with chronic renal failure treated with dialysis: associations with atherothrombotic disease.

The present study evaluated the importance of anticardiolipin antibodies (ACA) and lipoprotein (a) (Lp(a)) as markers of atherothrombotic disease in a retrospective study of patients on maintenance hemodialysis (HD) or peritoneal dialysis (PD). ACA and Lp(a) were measured in 22 patients on PD, and 64 on HD. Three patients were ACA IgM seropositive, whereas none were ACA IgG seropositive.

Improving long-term survival of patients with acute myocardial infarction from 1977-1988 in a region of Denmark.

The aim of this investigation was to study secular trends in long-term survival following myocardial infarction (MI). Five thousand one hundred and fifty-seven consecutive cases of MI in 3942 patients were recorded in a well-defined region in the study period 1977-1988. The study period ended before thrombolytic therapy was introduced in the hospital.

Myocardial infarction 1979-1988 in Denmark: secular trends in age-related incidence, in-hospital mortality and complications.

All admissions to a coronary care unit (CCU) in Copenhagen County were prospectively registered over a 10-year period, from 1979 to 1988, i.e. after the introduction of CCUs but before the era of intervention with thrombolytic or prophylactic medical treatment.

Reduced infarct size in nonreperfused myocardial infarction by combined infusion of isosorbide dinitrate and streptokinase.

The value of thrombolytic therapy in myocardial infarction is well established, while any beneficial effect of adjunct therapy is more uncertain. In a double-blind, randomized, parallel-group study the effect of combined intravenous infusions of streptokinase and isosorbide dinitrate (ISDN) on enzyme-estimated infarct size was investigated. One hundred consecutive patients with strong clinical and electrocardiographic suspicion of myocardial infarction, admitted to the coronary care unit within 8 hours after the onset of symptoms, were given a streptokinase infusion of 1.

No signs of Campylobacter jejuni/coli-related antibodies in patients with active ankylosing spondylitis.

Twenty-two patients with active ankylosing spondylitis were investigated to assess the levels of specific serum IgG, IgA and IgM titres against Campylobacter jejuni/coli before and during treatment with sulfasalazine. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used, and the results were compared with the antibody levels in 300 healthy blood donors. Three patients had elevated levels of serum anti-Campylobacter-IgA before treatment, and a two-fold decrease in the antibody titre was observed during treatment.

Ankylosing spondylitis--education, employment and invalidity.

Two hundred forty-eight patients suffering from ankylosing spondylitis (AS) completed a questionnaire about the social impact of the disease. Of the 84% who replied to the questions about employment status, 118 patients were employed full-time. The ability to manage full-time employment was reduced in 41 patients.

Ankylosing spondylitis--experience with a self administered questionnaire: an analytical study.

A questionnaire drafted by the president of a self help group of patients suffering from ankylosing spondylitis (AS), the Danish Ankylosing Spondylitis Society (DASS), was completed by 179 of 184 (97%) consecutive patients with AS. The following results were found. The diagnosis of AS was delayed an average of 12.

[Socio-medical consequences of patients with Bechterew's disease in Denmark].

During the period 1972-1985, 179 patients with Bechterew's disease replied to a questionnaire based on the age at commencement of the disease, treatment and the patient's experience of this and the working capacity related to the duration of the disease inter alii. The distribution of patients who were capable of working was constant regardless of the duration of the disease. 40% were completely fit for work, 35% partially fit for work and 25% were unfit for work.

[Antibacterial treatment of Campylobacter pylori-associated gastritis and peptic ulcer].

On the basis of possible etiological or pathogenetic significance of Campylobacter pylori for the development, maintenane og recurrence of gastritis and peptic ulceration, a review based on the literature is presented for the sensitivity of the bacteria in vitro and in vivo to antibiotics and preparations employed in the medicinal treatment of gastritis and peptic ulceration. The bacterium is sensitive in vitro to a long series of antibiotics and all of the anti-ulcer agents have, similarly, antibacterial activity in vitro, but, apart from bismuth, only in high concentrations. Among the anti-ulcer agents, only bismuth and, similarly, amoxycillin are capable of eliminating the bacteria from the stomach and this is associated with healing of any gastritis present.