COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance Calls for Clinicians to Share Data on Patients with COVID-19

By Kaitlyn D’Onofrio - Last Updated: April 6, 2023

The COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance is asking clinicians to provide data on their patients who have tested positive for COVID-19.

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The alliance is a global effort comprised of dozens of different organizations, including the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), the European League Against Rheumatism, the British Society of Rheumatology, The Lancet Rheumatology, Arthritis Foundation, and many more.

The information form takes about five to 10 minutes to complete and does not ask for any protected health information. All data will be deidentified.

The goal of the registry is to help guide clinicians treating rheumatic patients and assessing the risk of infection in immunosuppressed patients.

“The success of this voluntary effort depends on our joint participation and the breadth of information collected. We ask that you share this site with your colleagues internationally and encourage reporting,” according to the website.

The idea was inspired by the Surveillance Epidemiology of Coronavirus Under Research Exclusion (SECURE-IBD), a similar registry put in place for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) clinicians to report information on their patients with confirmed COVID-19 patients.

To access the registries click here.

About The COVID–19 Global Rheumatology Alliance

The grassroots organization was created quickly to address the ever-growing global COVID-19 pandemic. The alliance created a steering committee “with the goal of rapidly curating and disseminating accurate, timely, evidence-based information to the community of rheumatology providers and patients,” according to the website.

The steering committee currently has 11 members. There are also more than three dozen regional leads.

As the organization is in its growing stages, it is collaborating with the ACR: “As we develop ‘in-house’ expertise in such topics as regulatory compliance, finance, and grant management, the ACR can help us meet our obligations and responsibilities to the community that The COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance serves. Both The COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance and ACR agree that the ultimate goal is for The COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance to be an independent organization pursuing its mission.”

At the time of this publication, the organization has 100 total global cases in its provider registries.

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