COVID-19 and rheumatic diseases

Since patients with rheumatic diseases are at higher risk of respiratory infections, rheumatologists need to be cautious in preventing these patients from contracting the virus during this pandemic. An Asia-Pacific League Against Rheumatism which comprised of rheumatologists from 9 Asia-Pacific countries was formed and they developed a statement “Care for patients with rheumatic diseases during COVID‐19 pandemic: A position statement from APLAR”. Experts in the league provided guidance on clinical decision making such as identifying the risk factors for COVID-19 infection and suggesting the use of medications in patients with rheumatic diseases. (Int J Rheum Dis. 2020 Jun;23(6):717-722. doi: 10.1111/1756-185X.13863. Epub 2020 May 27.)

Anyone interested in future collaboration in this field of research is welcome to contact our key investigator Prof LS TAM in the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, CUHK. Prof Tam’s research focuses on inflammation and glucocorticoid induced osteoporosis, premature atherosclerosis in patients with rheumatic diseases and innate immunity in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).