ABSTRACT
The recommendations of the German Society of Rheumatology (DGRh) update, which update and expand the guidance on the management of patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases in view of SARS-CoV2 created at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, correspond in many points with the recommendations for action of the American (ACR) and European (EULAR) societies, but also differ in some points. Therefore, this article discusses the core recommendations of the DGRh update on the prevention of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19, the risk assessment for inflammatory rheumatic diseases and the use of antirheumatic treatments in the context and in comparison to the ACR and EULAR recommendations, and provides an overview of the risk assessment of individual antirheumatic drugs.
Subject(s)
Antirheumatic Agents/therapeutic use , Coronavirus Infections/epidemiology , Inflammation/therapy , Pneumonia, Viral/epidemiology , Rheumatic Diseases/therapy , Rheumatology , Betacoronavirus , COVID-19 , Europe , Germany , Humans , Pandemics , Practice Guidelines as Topic , Risk Assessment , SARS-CoV-2 , Societies, Medical , United StatesABSTRACT
In the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic there are many questions regarding the safe treatment of patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases. Many of these questions cannot yet be answered on an evidence-based basis and this does not make patient care easy. The German Society for Rheumatology (DGRh) hopes that these initial recommendations will provide support for specific issues in the care of patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases in view of the current threat posed by SARS-CoV-2. In order to take advantage of the dynamic worldwide gain in knowledge for our patients, the recommendations will be updated regularly. The updated versions of the recommendations are deposited on the homepage of the DGRh.