Identifying rheumatic disease patients at high risk and requiring shielding during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Clin Med (Lond)
; 20(3): 256-261, 2020 05 05.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32371418
ABSTRACT
Rheumatology teams care for patients with diverse, systemic autoimmune diseases who are often immunosuppressed and at high risk of infections. The current COVID-19 pandemic has presented particular challenges in caring for and managing this patient group. The office of the chief medical officer (CMO) for England contacted the rheumatology community to provide expert advice on the identification of extremely vulnerable patients at very high risk during the COVID-19 pandemic who should be 'shielded'. This involves the patients being asked to strictly self-isolate for at least 12 weeks with additional funded support provided for them to remain at home. A group of rheumatologists (the authors) have devised a pragmatic guide to identifying the very highest risk group using a rapidly developed scoring system which went live simultaneous with the Government announcement on shielding and was cascaded to all rheumatologists working in England.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Language:
En
Journal:
Clin Med (Lond)
Year:
2020
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United kingdom