Autoimmune And Rheumatic Diseases

Filling out a bracket to pick the winners of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament — aka March Madness — is a highlight of the American sports calendar. However, one rheumatologist also saw an opportunity to use this model as an education initiative for the specialty.

I am going to highly recommend an outstanding reflective piece on the current state of the Key Opinion Leaders in our profession, published recently by two of our brightest voices — Jose Scher, MD, and Georg Schett, MD — in the estimable Nature Reviews Rheumatology.

The possible FDA approval of a drug targeting the interferon pathway in lupus is the culmination of decades of work by clinicians and researchers alike. Yet, given the bewildering complexity of both interferon and lupus, this moment is likely only the midpoint of a much longer narrative.

All health care providers who assist in the management of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases should take responsibility for promoting adherence, according to EULAR “points to consider” published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and lupus often avoided office visits and lab testing in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data published in The Journal of Rheumatology.

Patients with rheumatic diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, have a similar risk for severe COVID-19 outcomes as the general population, according to a speaker at ACR Convergence 2020.

While experts are optimistic that multiple COVID-19 vaccine products will be available in late 2020 or early 2021, ongoing questions remain surrounding safety, ethics and distribution, according to panelists at ACR Convergence 2020.

Anthony S. Fauci, MD, director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease, told ACR Convergence 2020 meeting attendees that multiple vaccine candidates are “fully enrolled” in phase 3 trials in the U.S.

Antimalarial drug shortages due to COVID-19 affected more rheumatology patients in African and East Asian regions than those in the Americas and Europe, noted data from the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance Patient Experience Survey.

Tuberculosis screening and clinical surveillance are needed for patients prescribed methotrexate — especially alongside corticosteroids or other immunosuppressants — in tuberculosis-endemic areas, according to a speaker at ACR Convergence.