The 2003 Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) marked the completion of the first CHORD fellowship program. Many of the fellows we introduced to you in the last 2 editions of the newsletter presented research results from your data. Following is a list of the research presented by 2002 CHORD Fellows along with a brief explanation of results.
2002 CHORD Fellow Abstracts using NDB data:
Methotrexate, Laboratory Testing and Rich of Serious Illness: Analyses in 20,000 Patients - Victoria Cartwright MD (Methotrexate is quite safe.)
Low Rate if Visual Loss in Hydroxychloroquine Treated Patients: Evidence to Revise Monitoring Guidelines - Victoria Cartwright MD (Toxicity to plaquenil is rare.)
Infliximab Dose and Clinical Status in 1,248 RA Patients Seen in Rheumatology Clinical Practice - Richard Stern MD (Remicade doses are increasing.)
Therapy with Biologic Agents is not Associated with and Increased Risk of Cancer Recurrence in Patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis - Melissa Hawkins-Holt MD (No evidence that Remicade or Enbrel causes cancer to recur.)
Dose Escalation of Infliximab in Clinical Practice: Data from two large Rheumatology Clinics in Dallas, Texas - Richard Stern MD (More data on the increased dosing of Remicade.)
The Changing Face of Ulcer Disease in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis - Elizabeth Bentio-Garcia MD (Who gets ulcers? Which medications prevent ulcers?)
Utilization of Anti-Lipemic Agents and Gender Differences Among Subjects with Rheumatoid Arthritis - Abha Gupta MD (There is a gender gap. Men are treated with drugs to lower cholesterol more often than women.)
Workplace Productivity Among Working Persons with RA: Reliability and Validity of the Work Limitations Questionnaire (WLQ) in 836 Patients - Nancy Walker MD (What is really costs to have RA - Dollars and cents.)
Conventional and Disease-Specific Risk Factors for Congestive Heart Failure in Rheumatoid Arthritis - David Wu MD, Eric Lieberman MD, Paola De Pablo MD (More on the safety of Remicade, and Enbrel. They do not cause heart failure.)
The Effects of Biologic DMARDS on Sleep in Patients with RA. - Shahin Bagheri MD
*CHORD is a program sponsored by Centocor, Inc. and directed by NDB director, Frederick Wolfe, Theodore Pincus of Vanderbilt University, and Hyon K. Choi of Harvard. Physicians who were named as fellows in this program are training to be rheumatologists. During the yearlong fellowship training, CHORD fellows will study with Drs. Wolfe, Pincus and Choi using the research data from the National Data Bank.