A combination of chondroitin and glucosamine is widely used in clinical practice as both a symptomatic and structure-modifying agent for the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA). The emergence of new drugs based on this combination substantially expands treatment options for OA therapy.Objective: to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Artroflex® that is a combination of chondroitin sulfate 400 mg and glucosamine sulfate 500 mg (CS + GS) to support joint health in patients with knee and/or hip OA.Patients and methods. When implementing an open observational research program, the results of using the CS + GS complex were assessed in 644 OA patients (74.7% women) (mean age, 58.0±14.6 years) who experienced moderate/severe pain and required to continuously take non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). The CS + GS complex was prescribed in a dose of 2 capsules per day for 3 months. The investigators estimated changes in pain on movement by a 0 to 10 verbal pain scale, general health (GH) by a 0–10 visual analogue scale), the Lequesne index, the need for NSAIDs, and patient satisfaction with treatment and its tolerance.Results and discussion. After 3-month therapy, there were decreases in pain intensity by 49.2±16.8%, GH scores by 45.6±18.1%, the Lequesne index from 9.0 [6.0; 13.0] to 5.0 [3.0; 9.0]; less than half (45.2%) of the patients still needed for NSAIDs. 82.2% of patients were satisfied or completely satisfied with treatment results; 89.6% reported good treatment tolerance.Adverse events (apparently associated with NSAID use) were recorded in 2.2% of cases. There were no serious complications that required CS + GS treatment discontinuation or hospitalization.Conclusion. The findings have indicated that Artroflex® used to support joint health is an effective agent that controls OA symptoms and has a good safety level.
Objective: to test the patented “Method for determining a high risk of atherosclerosis in rheumatoid arthritis” on patients with rheumatoid arthritis.Materials and methods: 74 patients with RA who underwent inpatient treatment were examined. Gender composition of respondents: 77% women and 23% men. Mean age 54.1±9.1 years. The duration of RA is from 1 year to 26 years. 85.1% were diagnosed with a high degree of disease activity. Erosive arthritis was detected radiographically in 41 patients (55.4%). 83.7% (n=62) were seropositive for RF, 81% for ACCP (n=60). All received basic anti-inflammatory therapy. Systemic glucocorticoid therapy was received by 33.7%. All patients were calculated cardiovascular risk according to SCORЕ and mSCORЕ Also, all patients underwent duplex scanning of the BCA to detect atherosclerosis.Results: no significant increase in traditional factors of cardiovascular diseases was found among patients. When CVR was stratified according to SCORE, the frequency of low risk was 32.4%, moderate — 59.5%, high — 5.4%, very high — 2.7%. When using mSCORE, low risk was found in 27%, moderate — 56.7%, high — 13.5%, very high — 2.7%. Atherosclerotic plaques (ASP) in the carotid arteries in patients stratified according to SCORE for moderate, high and very high risk was detected in 68%, in persons with similar risks according to mSCORE — in 66.7%. With a score of 4 or more when using the tested method, ASP was found in 77.8%. Sensitivity for the detection of ASP in the carotid arteries using SCORE was 0.77, with mSCORE and the tested method 0.81 and 0.95, respectively. Specificity 0.47, 0.4 and 0.6 respectively. Positive predictive power for SCORE — 0.68, mSCORE — 0.67, tested method — 0.77. Negative predictive power for SCORE — 0.58, mSCORE — 0.6, tested method — 0.9.Conclusion: the study showed that our proposed method, which uses traditional clinical markers, significantly increases the sensitivity, specificity, and negative predictive power of calculation methods for identifying a group of individuals with a high risk of atherosclerotic lesions of extracranial arteries against the background of rheumatoid arthritis compared with using the SCORE and mSCORE parameters.
Research objective. Evaluation of the influence of 6-month antihypertensive therapy with drugs of different classes on hemodynamic parameters of the circulatory system in patients with comorbid hypertension and rheumatoid arthritis. Materials and methods. Patients who met age criteria (58.6 ± 6.4 years), duration of hypertension (11.2 ± 1.6 years), onset (aged 45–64 years), and duration (7.2 ± 2.1 years) of rheumatoid arthritis were divided into groups: Group I (136 men, 141 women) — 277 patients with stage II hypertension; Group II (28 men, 114 women) — 142 patients with stage II hypertension and rheumatoid arthritis (in clinical-laboratory remission); Group III (20 men, 92 women) — 112 patients with stage II hypertension and rheumatoid arthritis (in clinical-laboratory exacerbation). Antihypertensive monotherapy was prescribed by polyclinic doctors: nebivolol, lisinopril, losartan, amlodipine, indapamide, and a combination of lisinopril and indapamide. Observation was carried out for 6 months. Results. The influence of antihypertensive therapy (6 months) on hemodynamic parameters of the circulatory system in patients of groups I and II was presented by positive dynamics of morphometric and speed parameters, while in group III patients the indicators were less significant and more distant. Conclusion. The presence of rheumatoid arthritis introduces additional changes in the dynamics of hemodynamic effects of prescribed antihypertensive therapy and is determined by the degree of disease activity and adequacy of basic anti-inflammatory therapy.
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