Hydroxychloroquine

The rheumatology community is looking for ways to protect immunocompromised patients amidst low COVID-19 vaccination rates and poor vaccine response among vulnerable individuals. It was the top story in rheumatology this week.

The use of hydroxychloroquine during pregnancy is not associated with structural birth defects or any other outcomes, save for birth head circumference, according to data published in Arthritis & Rheumatology.

Rheumatologists who prescribe hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine should be aware of their potential cardiac toxicity, especially in high-risk patients with rheumatic disease, according to an American College of Rheumatology white paper.

The risk for hydroxychloroquine retinopathy increases with higher dosing per actual and ideal body weight, and with longer duration of use, according to data presented at ACR Convergence 2021.

Hydroxychloroquine maintenance, compared with reducing or discontinuing, is associated with a lower risk for flare among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus in remission or very low disease activity, according to data presented here.

It is likely that one or more “promising treatments” currently being investigated for Sjögren’s syndrome will come into use within the next 3 to 5 years, according to a presenter at the 2021 Congress of Clinical Rheumatology-West.

New data support halting the use of hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19, which has been prescribed more than 560,000 times in 2021 alone to prevent and treat SARS-CoV-2 infection, according to an expert.

Updated evidence “strongly supports” ending the use of hydroxychloroquine for either preventing or treating COVID-19, due to a lack of benefits combined with potentially fatal cardiovascular complications, according to a meta-analysis.

In a session here, attendees heard global perspectives from their rheumatology colleagues in Australia, Canada, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, Brazil and India.

Managing cardiovascular event risk is critical to preventing morbidity and mortality in lupus nephritis, especially among groups at increased risk for the disease, according to a speaker at the 2021 Rheumatology Nurses Society annual conference.