Sjögren’s Syndrome News

There is no association between a child’s ethnicity and the risk for neonatal lupus erythematosus, nor for any specific disease symptoms, according to data published in The Journal of Rheumatology.

Maternal ankylosing spondylitis is associated with a 2.02-times higher likelihood of Kawasaki disease in the offspring, according to a research letter published in JAMA Network Open.

The ability to identify the features of Sjögren’s syndrome, and to seek payer approval for specific manifestations of the disease, is of paramount importance for the rheumatologist, according to a presenter at the 2021 Interdisciplinary Autoimmune Summit.

Rituximab was associated with more severe COVID-19 in patients with inflammatory rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases, according to data published in The Lancet Rheumatology.

The incidence of scleritis declined by about a third in the United Kingdom between 1997 and 2018, according to data published in Arthritis & Rheumatology.

Patients with inflammatory rheumatic disease, but especially those with autoimmune conditions, as well as those treated with rituximab, may be at greater risk for severe COVID-19 pneumonia than the general population, according to data.

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.