Depression is a common co-morbidity among rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, which may translate into difficulty performing activities of daily living. COVID-19 is an unprecedented disaster that has disrupted lives worldwide and led to a rise in the incidence of mental health disorders. Given the widespread economic devastation due to COVID-19, many RA patients, already susceptible to mental illness, maybe at an increased risk of inaccessibility to medical care, accentuated stress, and consequent worsening of existent mental health disorders, or the onset of new mental health disorders such as anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, or depression. The objective of this review is to assess if there is an increased risk of mental health disorders in patients with RA during the COVID-19 pandemic. Telemedicine has bridged the transition to remote chronic care in the pandemic period, though certain accessibility and technological challenges are to be addressed. Decreased access to care amid lockdowns and a proposed triggering of disease activity in patients with autoimmune disorders may potentially herald a massive spike in incidence or flares of patients diagnosed with RA in the coming months. Such a deluge of cases may be potentially devastating to an overburdened healthcare system. Rheumatologists may need to prepare for this eventuality and explore techniques to provide adequate care during these challenging times. The authors found that there is a significant association between the adverse impact on the mental health of RA patients and the COVID-19 pandemic. However, more research is needed to highlight individual risk factors.
Instagram allows for graphical and visual information exchange. This paper aims to explore the current landscape of rheumatology on Instagram and analyse the accounts available based on their objectives and level of engagement. The search term “#rheumatology” reveals 62 results, leaving 55 after careful exclusion. On grouping into “educational”, “broadcasting”, “support”, and a combination of all three, an analysis is carried out using the total number of posts, follower counts, number of caption characters (last 10 posts), likes per post (last 10 posts), archived stories, reels, IgTV (Instagram Television) videos, hashtags, and links in bio. The analysis reveals that 29 accounts (52.7%) disseminate educational content, 36 (65.4%) are run by organisations, and 22 (40.0%) are of an institute or clinic. Character counts (rho 0.44,
p
= 0.0006) and videos (likes for ten posts 149 vs. 54,
p
= 0.006) positively correlate with the number of likes, while hashtag use and post count have no statistical significance with likes. Reels and IgTV videos are infrequently used (18.18%, 3.6%). The rheumatology social media landscape is in its nascency and currently split into educational and broadcasting accounts with a significant overlap between the two. The positive correlation of character counts and videos and the negative correlation of hashtag use and post count with likes lay the case for quality content to improve engagement. Social media editors may ensure quality content for rheumatology education using Instagram.
Key Points
• The current landscape of Instagram use in rheumatology is limited and largely orientated towards educative content.
• Likes on Instagram are positively correlated with caption character counts and videos.
• Using currently underutilised tools like videos, engaging captions, and infographics may enhance the utility of Instagram in rheumatology education.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10067-021-05947-6.
Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a condition that primarily affects men between the fourth and seventh decades of life, occurring due to enlargement of the prostate which subsequently causes compression of the prostatic urethra causing chronic obstruction of the urinary outflow tract. BPH can cause significant quality-of-life issues such as urinary hesitancy, intermittency, decreased urinary stream, a sensation of incomplete emptying, dysuria, urinary retention, hematuria, and nocturia. Several medical and surgical treatment modalities are available for the treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms and other BPH-related sequela; however, increasingly prostate artery embolization is being utilized in this patient population. Technical demands for this procedure in this population can be significant. This article describes the optimal techniques, tricks, and advanced imaging techniques that can be used to achieve desired technical outcomes.
Background: Obesity assessed by body mass index (BMI) and waist/hip ratio (WHR) are better predictors of cardiovascular disease. However, there is a dearth of data investigating the correlation of BMI and WHR with severity of CAD, particularly among the Indian population. This study aims to investigate the correlation of BMI and WHR with severity of CAD assessed by angiography.Methods: This open-label observational study included patients who underwent angiography, angioplasty, or coronary artery bypass grafting in the past one month. All data such as age, gender as well as anthropometric measurements such as height (meters), weight (kg), and waist circumferences (cm), and hip circumferences (cm) were collected at the first follow-up visit. BMI (kg/m2), body surface area (BSA) (m2), and WHR were calculated. Angiography findings were retrieved from the patient’s own record to note the severity of CAD.Results: In total, 302 patients were analyzed. The mean age of the study sample was 60.5±11.5 years, and 71.9% were males. Mean BMI, BSA, and WHR were 27.0±4.3 kg/m2, 1.3±0.8 m2 and 0.96±0.07, respectively. BMI was not significantly correlated with severity of CAD (p=0.051). In both male and female patients, WHR was not significantly correlated with severity of CAD (male: p=0.256 and female: p=0.851).Conclusions: It has been concluded that BMI and WHR were not significantly correlated with severity of CAD in an Indian population.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.