Anca Askanase, MD, PhD, director, Columbia University Lupus Center and associate professor of Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City, notes, like Dr. Ware, that the DGRh update “is very much in line with the guidance from the ACR.”
“The main difference,” she says, “is more detail in regards to medication used and recommendations about adjusting several medications in the setting of either documented or presumptive COVID-19 diagnosis.”
“The key message,” she adds, “is that this is a rapidly evolving field and that we all need to keep up with the information and help our patients make preventive, therapeutic and lifestyle decisions on a regular basis.”
Rheumatologist Gary Firestein, MD, director of the Clinical and Translational Research Institute at University of California,San Diego Health, noted, like Dr. Askanase, that guidelines for COVID-19 are constantly evolving. “Decisions on therapy should be individualized for each patient and depend on the severity of their rheumatic disease and COVID-19 symptoms,” he says. “Transient adjustment or suspension of therapy is a goal, but should be tempered by the need to keep the rheumatic disease under control.”
“Most drugs that we use appear safe in patients with COVID-19, and some are even being explored as (COVID-19) treatments. So the likelihood that these agents will do serious harm seems relatively low,” he concluded.
References
- Schulze-Koops H, Krüger K, Hoyer BF, et al. Updated recommendations of the German Society for Rheumatology for the care of patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases in times of SARS-CoV-2 – methodology, key messages and justifying information. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2021 Jan 27;keab072. Online ahead of print.
- Mikuls TR, Johnson SR, Fraenkel L, et al. American College of Rheumatology guidance for the management of rheumatic disease in adult patients during the COVID-19 pandemic: Version 3. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2021 Feb;73(2):e1–e12. Epub 2020 Dec 5.
