Home > Weekly Newsletters > Pain & Arthritis

WEDNESDAY, June 11 (HealthDay News) -- Adding monthly injections of golimumab to weekly doses of methotrexate helped most people with rheumatoid arthritis, even putting some into remission, two new studies show.

The findings on golimumab, an anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha biologic therapy drug, were scheduled to be presented Tuesday at the European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress of Rheumatology, in Paris.

In the first study, one group of patients taking methotrexate weekly for active rheumatoid arthritis were given either 50-milligram or 100-milligram doses of golimumab via subcutaneous injections, while the rest of the patients received a placebo and methotrexate.

After just 14 weeks, 35 percent of those receiving 50-milligram doses of golimumab and 32 percent of patients in the 100-milligram group achieved remission as measured by Disease Activity Score. Only 13 percent in the placebo group reached remission. These improvements were sustained for six months.

More than two-thirds of the golimumab patients increased their ability to perform routine activities such as arising, dressing, eating, walking, hygiene, reaching and gripping after 24 weeks on the additional drug. Some of the improvements were noticeable after four weeks of the first golimumab injection, and the golimumab patients generally continued to improve over the duration of the study.

Only 39 percent of those in the placebo group showed similar improvement after 24 weeks.

"The data in this study demonstrate that golimumab is beneficial in improving numerous disease parameters, including inducing remission, in patients whose disease was active despite ongoing treatment with methotrexate," lead investigator Dr. Edward Keystone, director of the Rebecca MacDonald Centre for Arthritis and Autoimmune Disease at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, said in prepared statement. "Since some patients do not respond adequately to methotrexate alone, this combination therapy could prove to be a highly valuable treatment option based on these results."

In the second study, rheumatoid arthritis patients who had never taken methotrexate were treated with that drug and either 50 milligrams or 100 milligrams of golimumab. These patients also experienced a lessening of the signs and symptoms of arthritis as well as in disease activity, with 38 percent of those receiving the two drugs experiencing a 50 percent drop in signs and symptoms of RA after 24 weeks. Just 29 percent of those receiving a placebo plus methotrexate experienced a similar improvement in their condition.

Thirty-eight percent of patients receiving golimumab meet the remission standard after 24 weeks.

"These data show that treatment with golimumab induces an important depth of response, improving multiple aspects of rheumatoid arthritis and leading to significant decreases in disease activity," study investigator Dr. Roy Fleischmann, chief of the rheumatology division at St. Paul University Hospital in Dallas, said in a prepared statement. "Golimumab is a promising treatment option for multiple patient populations with this chronic and potentially debilitating inflammatory disease."

More information

The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about rheumatoid arthritis.

FRIDAY, May 23 (HealthDay News) -- Although excessive alcohol consumption has long been associated with poor bone health, a new review suggests that people who have just one drink a day may actually have stronger bones that are less prone to fractures.

People who have one drink each day have about a 20 percent reduced risk of hip fracture compared to people who don't drink at all. In comparison, those who drink more than two alcoholic beverages daily have about a 40 percent higher risk of hip fracture, according to the study.

"Our study adds to the literature that suggests that moderate alcohol use is beneficial for many diseases," said study author Dr. Karina Berg, an assistant professor of medicine at Montefiore Medical Center and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. Berg added that the study also found that "bone mineral density increased as alcohol consumption increased from abstinence up to about two drinks a day."

However, she said this study isn't a reason for people to start drinking if they don't already do so, and having more than two drinks a day can actually harm your bone health.

Ten million Americans have osteoporosis, a bone-thinning disease that makes bones more susceptible to fracture, according to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS). Millions more are at risk of osteoporosis because they have low bone mineral density, according to NIAMS.

Half of all women over 50 and one-quarter of men will suffer a fracture at some point due to osteoporosis, NIAMS reports.

Heavy alcohol consumption is a known risk factor for osteoporotic fractures and low bone mineral density, according to Berg's study, published in the May issue of The American Journal of Medicine.

What hasn't been clear, said Berg, is what the effects of moderate alcohol consumption are on bone health. To try to answer that question, Berg and her colleagues reviewed existing literature to find studies on alcohol consumption and bone health.

After reviewing 13 studies on alcohol and hip fracture risk, the authors concluded that people who had less than 0.5 drinks a day had a 16 percent reduced risk of hip fracture, compared to people who didn't drink at all. When alcohol consumption increased to 0.5 to one drink per day, the risk of hip fracture was reduced by 20 percent. Those consuming one to two drinks daily had a 9 percent reduction in hip fracture risk, while those who drank more than two drinks a day increased their risk of hip fracture by 39 percent, according to the study.

Berg said alcohol's beneficial effects likely come from the fact that alcohol has an influence on circulating estrogen levels, which in turn may improve bone health. However, this study wasn't designed to find the exact reason light drinking might help bone health, only to examine if there was an association.

Dr. Bruce Kaplan, a rheumatologist at Providence Hospital in Southfield, Mich., pointed out that this study doesn't prove cause and effect, but added that, "moderate drinking, particularly wine, has been associated with good health and may have some beneficial effect."

Berg added that current federal government guidelines recommend no more than one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men.

More information

To learn more about osteoporosis, as well as ways to keep your bones strong, visit the U.S. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.