The American College of Rheumatology has added two new recommendations to its COVID-19 Clinical Guidance for Adult Patients with Rheumatic Diseases. The new updates focus on treatment following a COVID-19 infection and include:
Reinitiating Treatment Following COVID-19
- For patients with uncomplicated COVID-19 infections (characterized by mild or no pneumonia and treated in the ambulatory setting or via self-quarantine), consideration may be given to re-starting rheumatic disease treatments (e.g., DMARDs, immunosuppressants, biologics and JAK inhibitors) within seven to 14 days of symptom resolution. For patients who have a positive PCR test for SARS-CoV-2, but are (and remain) asymptomatic, consideration may be given to re-starting rheumatic disease treatments (e.g., DMARDs, immunosuppressants, biologics and JAK inhibitors) 10 to 17 days after the PCR test is reported as positive (H).
- Decisions regarding the timing of reinitiating rheumatic disease therapies in patients recovering from more severe COVID-19-related illness should be made on a case-by-case basis (H).
The (H) at the end of both of these statements stands for “high” and is related to the consensus during voting by the task force on these two new recommendations.
You can read the full PDF here.