Aim: Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), commonly used to treat patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS), has been shown to delay the development of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This study aimed to explore the association between HCQ use and future development of SLE in pSS patients based on a nationwide nested case-control study.
Method: Based on the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan, those patients who were diagnosed with SLE at least 1 year after the diagnosis of pSS were identified as cases.
Background: Vaccination is one of the most important measures worldwide to halt the spread of the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, the efficacy and safety of these vaccines in rheumatic patients are not well explored. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNumerous cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) with autoimmune and rheumatic manifestations have been reported. Despite the available reviews that summarized its autoimmune/rheumatic manifestations, a systematic approach is still lacking. Therefore, we conducted a comprehensive systematic review in order to give an overview upon these rare but clinically significant manifestations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Risk factors for sepsis have not been assessed in patients receiving tumor necrosis factor-alpha inhibitors (TNFi) for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) who are vulnerable to serious/hospitalized infections.
Methods: Data from 2003-2017 were obtained from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database to identify patients receiving TNFi, including etanercept, adalimumab, and golimumab, for IMIDs including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), ankylosing spondylitis (AS), psoriasis (PsO), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), Crohn's disease (CD), and ulcerative colitis (UC). To investigate risk factors for sepsis, we used the Sepsis-3 definition and calculated hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using Cox regression analysis.