Baseline medication use is associated with COVID-19 severity in people with rheumatic diseases

(European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology) Results from the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance and the French RMD cohort -- COVID-19 is the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection. It has been suggested that biologic or targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (b/tsDMARDs) may dampen the inflammatory response in COVID-19, perhaps leading to a less severe clinical course of the infection. However, the way some antirheumatic drugs work might impair the body's natural im...