Clinical rheumatology
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Clinical rheumatology · Apr 2021
Incidence of COVID-19 in patients with rheumatic disease: is prior health education more important than shielding advice during the pandemic?
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to major changes in clinical practice on a global scale in order to protect patients. This includes the identification of vulnerable patients who should "shield" in order to reduce the likelihood of contracting SARS-CoV2. We used national specialty guidance and an adapted screening tool to risk stratify patients identified from our prescribing and monitoring databases, and identify those needing to shield (score ≥ 3) using information from departmental letters, online general practice records and recent laboratory investigations. ⋯ The trend towards lower incidence in this cohort could be because of prior education regarding general infection risk and response to public health messages. While risk stratification and shielding could be effective, prior education regarding general infection risk and public health messages to enhance health protection behaviours during a pandemic may have equal or more important roles. Key Points • Patients on treatment for rheumatic disorders showed a trend for lower incidence of COVID-19 transmission irrespective of shielding letter status • This could potentially be because of prior education regarding infection risk received when starting on disease-modifying medication • Health education influencing health protection behaviours may be of equal or more importance than shielding information in reducing transmission of SARS-CoV-2.
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Clinical rheumatology · Apr 2021
The usefulness and validity of English-language videos on YouTube as an educational resource for spondyloarthritis.
YouTube is a popular online platform where patients often visit for information. However, the validity of the content on spondyloarthritis (SpA) on YouTube is not known. ⋯ Majority of YouTube videos have useful information on SpA and are important educational sources to patients. However, rheumatologists should be aware that misleading patient opinions on alternative therapies can contain inaccurate information and should hence actively correct these misinformation during their clinic consults Key Points • The majority of videos on Spondyloarthritis found on YouTube are deemed useful and are uploaded by healthcare professionals. • The majority of misleading videos were uploaded by patients and the main theme of misinformation was on clinical features and treatment of spondyloarthritis.