Sjögren’s Syndrome News

COVID-19 is more severe, with more complications and higher mortality, than influenza among patients with autoimmune disease, according to data published in Rheumatology.

Patients’ response to anti-CTLA-4 or anti-PD-1 checkpoint therapy for advanced melanoma, and their incidence of immune-related adverse events of grade 3 or higher, were similar regardless of preexisting autoimmune disease, according to data.

Although the risk for severe COVID-19 outcomes in patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal disease has lowered, it is nonetheless still significant, according to data published in The Lancet Rheumatology.

Patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases and COVID-19 may be at greater risk for hospitalization, ICU admission, acute renal failure and venous thromboembolism, according to data published in Arthritis & Rheumatology.

Patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases who contract COVID-19 may have a higher risk for end-organ failure than those without such diseases, according to a speaker at ACR Convergence 2020.

Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, especially those who are positive for anti-Sm antibodies, are at greater risk for adverse events associated with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, according to data presented at the ACR Convergence 2020 virtual meeting.

It is essential that rheumatologists aim for “low” or “quiescent” disease activity several months before conception in their patients who desire to become pregnant, according to a presenter at the 2020 Congress of Clinical Rheumatology-East.

The risk for hospital-diagnosed COVID-19 among patients with autoimmune or immune-mediated disease may depend on age, specific disease and prior therapy, according to data published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Women aged 18 to 45 years with rheumatic diseases want rheumatologists to play an active role in their sexual and reproductive health, according to findings from a series of interviews published in Arthritis Care & Research.

The COVID-19 pandemic, in places like Detroit, with a large working-class population, can highlight the gap between the rich and the poor. It can demonstrate how political unrest can impact the response to a critical situation. Moreover, it can show how health care workers can face both personal and professional challenges in managing an outbreak of this magnitude.