Spondyloarthritis’s link to the gut: biomarkers
This week’s research is brought to you by my inability to leave anything that can be researched alone. I recently had a blood test report that there’s a good chance I have ulcerative colitis (UC), a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Constant back and forth with doctors leaves me worried that this will end up being nothing, yet hoping that it will be something. Especially since I’ve already mentally accepted that it could (probably) be something. Countless times in the past I’ve had doctors get excited because a test seemed to show something. Inflammation! A positive blood marker! A little something here on this x-ray! And then they run…
We need to leave behind prejudiced science
Diagnostic criteria put out by medical organizations are supposed to help make diagnosis more straightforward for doctors and patients by defining what the disease is. They should make it easier to study the disease and easier to decide treatment. But what about when those criteria are based on biased assumptions? Research for spondyloarthritis has a history of discrimination affecting women and people of color, and decisions continue to be made from that research. Doctors and researchers need to consider this when making recommendations and designing studies today. Spondyloarthritis Spondyloarthritis (SpA) is a group of autoinflammatory diseases that mostly feature arthritis of the spine which can lead to spinal fusion. The…
