The Evidence Based Rheumatology Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

New RCT in a new disease with a new drug! But is it as shiny as one would hope? Interesting discussion today about what a trial means, how it will affect practice, and how we could do better as a field. Happy holidays everyone! 

Reading one of my recent newsletters this week, this one about PMR tapers. Be sure to subscribe at ebrheum.com if you want access to the visuals and upcoming editions! 

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