Rheumatic And Autoimmune Diseases

Despite the trials brought on by COVID-19, the American College of Rheumatology has “not slowed or stopped” but, instead, has continued to adapt to meet the challenges of the pandemic head-on, according to President David Karp, MD, PhD.

A bipartisan group of 247 members of Congress have signed a letter urging their own leadership to address several looming Medicare cuts that would reduce reimbursements to providers by nearly 10% starting next year.

Compared to the Rotterdam Early Arthritis Cohort referral rule, the Clinical Arthritis Rule had superior specificity and overall diagnostic performance in recognizing inflammatory arthritis and inflammatory rheumatic disease in primary care.

The fight against COVID-19 has shifted drastically since the beginning of 2021. The front lines are no longer nursing homes or retirement communities, but school cafeterias and daycare centers.

Enthesitis-related arthritis and a family history of autoimmune disease are key risk factors for inflammatory bowel disease in juvenile idiopathic arthritis, according to data published in Rheumatology.

The live attenuated varicella-zoster vaccine is safe and provides “reasonable short-term” effectiveness in patients receiving TNF inhibitors for a variety of indications, according to data published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Patients with immune mediated inflammatory diseases are tested for COVID-19 at a 20% higher rate than the general population, according to data published in Arthritis Care & Research.

A reminder of some common and not-so-common clinical scenarios can make every rheumatologist more capable of delivering optimal patient care, according to a presenter at the 2021 Congress of Clinical Rheumatology-West.

Patients with rheumatic diseases who were pregnant at the time of developing COVID-19 demonstrated favorable pregnancy and infection outcomes, according to data published in The Journal of Rheumatology.

Parental smoking during childhood is potentially associated with seropositive rheumatoid arthritis later in life, according to data published in Arthritis & Rheumatology.