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COVID-19 and how evidence of a new disease evolves
  1. Féline P B Kroon1,2,
  2. Ted R Mikuls3,
  3. Robert BM Landewé1,4
  1. 1 Rheumatology, Zuyderland Medical Centre, Heerlen, The Netherlands
  2. 2 Rheumatology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
  3. 3 Department of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska, USA
  4. 4 Amsterdam Rheumatology Center, AMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  1. Correspondence to Féline P B Kroon, Zuyderland Medical Centre Heerlen, Heerlen 6419 PC, The Netherlands; f.kroon.reum{at}lumc.nl

https://doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-218483

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    In 7 months’ time, COVID-19 has developed from a single case to a pandemic affecting more than nine million people worldwide, and the outlook of many more to come. While the majority fare a mild disease course, the world has seen large numbers of critically ill and deaths. These are unprecedented times, in modern history only comparable to the 1918 Spanish influenza,1 as we are faced by the worldwide spread of a disease that was non-existent less than a year ago.

    ‘Evidence-based medicine’ is proudly rooted in our practice nowadays and also expected to provide us with guidance on how to respond to COVID-19. As a result, the number of studies on COVID-19 is increasing exponentially. The accumulating data are widely available owing to the ‘digital era’ we live in, which, despite obvious advantages of public availability of information, also poses risks of ‘information overload’ or ‘fake news’.

    The rapid increase in research on COVID-19 is encouraging, yet, it is important …

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    Footnotes

    • Handling editor Josef S Smolen

    • Contributors All authors contributed equally to the manuscript and approved of the final version.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.