Timothy Kwok

Jan 1, 2024 | jrheum.org | Timothy Kwok |Bindee Kuriya |Lihi Eder |Vivian Aghanya

To the Editor:Individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may be at increased risk of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outcomes.1 Nirmatrelvir/ritonavir has been shown to reduce the risk for hospitalization and death among patients with COVID-19 at risk for progression to severe disease.2 On April 4, 2022, nirmatrelvir/ritonavir became available in Ontario, Canada, for high-risk individuals, including immunosuppressed patients with rheumatic disease, such as RA.

Aug 16, 2023 | mdpi.com | Erik Fung |Timothy Kwok |Saranya Palaniswamy |Leong-Ting Lui

3. Results 3.1. Baseline Characteristics of Longitudinal Study CohortThe median age of 2997 community-living older adults (47.5% male) in this cohort was 71 (IQR 68–75) years at baseline. Among them, 1282 (42.8%) and 425 (14.2%) had hypertension and diabetes mellitus, respectively (). Hypertension was associated with older age (median 72 [IQR 68–75] vs. 71 [IQR 68–75] years, p < 0.0001), increased frailty (frailty index 0.13 [IQR 0.11–0.19] vs.

Jul 1, 2023 | jrheum.org | Timothy Kwok |Bindee Kuriya |Lauren King |Lihi Eder

DISCUSSIONIn this population-based study evaluating all contacts with rheumatologists before and during the pandemic, there was a significant uptake in telemedicine visits and a precipitous drop of in-person outpatient visits when pandemic measures were imposed in Ontario. Although there was a steady increase in the return to outpatient visits following the pandemic onset, there was sustained use of telemedicine in rheumatology throughout the second year of the pandemic.