Exclusive: ACR Convergence 2024| Focus Rheums

An official publication of the ACR and the ARP serving rheumatologists and rheumatology professionals

Are ANAs More Prevalent in the U.S. Now Than in the Past?

  |  

According to a new study, the prevalence of anti-nuclear antibodies (ANAs), the most common biomarker of autoimmunity in the U.S., has increased considerably in recent years among adolescents aged 12–19 years, in both sexes (especially in men), older adults (age ≥50 years) and non-Hispanic whites…

WHO Expects HCQ Safety Findings by Mid-June

Reuters Staff  |  

ZURICH (Reuters)—The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday promised a swift review of data on hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), probably by mid-June, after safety concerns prompted the group to suspend the malaria drug’s use in a trial on COVID-19 patients. U.S. President Donald Trump and others have pushed HCQ as a possible coronavirus treatment, but the WHO…

As Chinese Authorities Expand Use of Health Tracking Apps, Privacy Concerns Grow

Josh Horwitz & Brenda Goh  |  

SHANGHAI (Reuters)—China’s health tracking QR codes, which have played a key part in the country’s successful containment of COVID-19, now look set to play a much broader role in daily life as local authorities dream up new uses for the technology. Embedded in the popular WeChat and Alipay smartphone apps, the codes use self-reported and…

Few Medicare Advantage Plans Cover Social Needs for Chronically Ill Patients

Lisa Rappaport  |  

(Reuters Health)—Most Medicare Advantage plans are not offering chronically ill enrollees supplemental benefits to address social needs, which were added to the government health program in 2018 in an effort to improve health outcomes and achieve cost savings, a U.S. study suggests.1 Researchers examined publicly available data on benefits and plan design for Medicare Advantage…

Hydroxychloroquine Tied to Increased Risk of Death in COVID-19 Patients

Reuters Staff  |  

(Reuters)—Malaria drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), which U.S. President Donald Trump says he has been taking, is tied to increased risk of death in COVID-19 patients, according to a study published in The Lancet.1 The registry analysis, which included data from 671 hospitals in six continents and over 96,000 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, showed that people treated…

U.K. Healthcare Workers Begin COVID-19 HCQ Trial

Kylie MacLellan  |  

LONDON (Reuters)—On May 21, British healthcare workers began taking part in a University of Oxford-led international trial of two anti-malarial drugs to see if they can prevent COVID-19, including one U.S. President Donald Trump says he has been taking. The COPCOV study will involve more than 40,000 frontline healthcare workers from Europe, Africa, Asia and…

Seronegative RA May Be on the Rise

  |  

A study comparing trends in the incidence of RA from 2005 to 2014 with previous decades showed a shift in RA subset, suggesting the need for timely recognition of rheumatoid factor-negative RA…