Milena Gianfrancesco and colleagues1Gianfrancesco MA Hyrich KL Gossec L et al.Rheumatic disease and COVID-19: initial data from the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance provider registries.Lancet Rheumatol. 2020; (published online April 16.)https://doi.org/10.1016/S2665-9913(20)30095-3Summary Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (162) Google Scholar underlined the potential use of disease-modifying drugs, such as hydroxychloroquine, for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) treatment, but I was struck by the absence of information about long-term hydroxychloroquine treatment among the reported patients.1Gianfrancesco MA Hyrich KL Gossec L et al.Rheumatic disease and COVID-19: initial data from the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance provider registries.Lancet Rheumatol. 2020; (published online April 16.)https://doi.org/10.1016/S2665-9913(20)30095-3Summary Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (162) Google Scholar Antimalarial drugs have raised hopes and fierce debate among scientific and public communities worldwide, rapidly creating a political dimension.2Flinders M Coronavirus and the politics of crisis fatigue. The Conversation.http://theconversation.com/coronavirus-and-the-politics-of-crisis-fatigue-134702Date: March 25, 2020Date accessed: April 20, 2020Google Scholar Use of such drugs is a concern for both clinicians and the general population on different levels. It is unknown whether patients with inflammatory rheumatic disease under treatment are more at risk for infection or serious disease due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 than the general population. The aim of the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance provider registries is to determine such features. Beyond this primary objective, description and understanding of the determinants of COVID-19 in patients taking immunomodulatory or immunosuppressive drugs (such as hydroxychloroquine and IL-6 receptor antagonists) might help with understanding the disease pathophysiology to prevent the appearance or decrease the severity of COVID-19 pneumonia or neurological events. It is critical to indicate in further reports the occurrence of clinically significant disease in patients treated with hydroxychloroquine, as this drug could be useful in preventing severe disease or minimising the viral excretion period. On April 6, a letter in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases stated that “hydroxychloroquine use might be an explanation for no report on systemic lupus erythematosus patients with COVID-19”,3Joob B Wiwanitkit V SLE, hydroxychloroquine and no SLE patients with covid-19: a comment.Ann Rheum Dis. 2020; (published online April 15.)DOI:10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-217506Crossref PubMed Scopus (20) Google Scholar showing the confidence clinicians might place in incomplete data. I declare no competing interests. Initial data from the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance provider registries – Authors' replyWe agree that information regarding long-term use of hydroxychloroquine and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outcomes is needed. When reporting a case to the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance registry, providers are asked to report on various medications taken before the patient had COVID-19. Although specific details on individual medications might not have been included in our Comment,1 we report the percentage of cases on a number of immunomodulatory and immunosuppressive drugs, including antimalarials, on a weekly basis to our website , Twitter account , and mailing list, so these data are widely accessible and regularly updated. Full-Text PDF Rheumatic disease and COVID-19: initial data from the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance provider registriesIndividuals with inflammatory rheumatic disease require special consideration with regard to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Many of these individuals are considered at-risk for serious infections due to their immunocompromised state resulting from their underlying immune conditions and use of targeted immune-modulating therapies such as biologics.1–4 However, some disease-modifying drugs commonly used to treat rheumatic diseases, such as hydroxychloroquine, are being investigated as potential therapies for COVID-19. Full-Text PDF