Welcome to RheumMD

This website is the idea of the National Data Bank for Rheumatic Diseases (NDB). We do research in rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, lupus, fibromyalgia, and other arthritis and arthritis-like conditions.

We have brought together a group of international rheumatology experts who can answer questions that you have. Some are professors, some clinicians, and some are both. We will try to give you straight and useful answers. We have no sponsors, no pharmaceutical company is paying for or supporting this project, and none of us get paid for answering questions.

One reason that we are establishing this website is to call your attention to NDB research. We perform our research based on questionnaires that people like you complete twice a year. We hope you might be interested. Click the ‘NDB Research’ tab for more information, and do take a look at the ‘About this Site’ tab for more details about how the questions and answers work.

The NDB’s current important research involves the development of new Criteria for the Diagnosis of Fibromyalgia – to be published in Arthritic Care and Research in May. We are also reporting in the same journal about the risk of hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil) therapy in lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, and how this treatment should be followed for safety. This is an important study that will change treatment and assessment for users of this treatment.  Finally, this month the NDB published an important study in Arthritis Research and Therapy on disability and the effectiveness of biologic therapy in rheumatoid arthritis. We believe article will shed important light on the long-term costs and effectiveness of this therapy.

All of these studies were based on data provided by NDB participants. I hope that some of you who are reading this and are not members of NDB research will consider joining (Click the ‘NDB Research’ tab). Remember, you would be helping all people with rheumatic diseases. Again, there are no costs to you and no links to any pharmaceutical company. If you have questions about this project – or any other questions, post them and we will do our best to answer.

We also invite you to look in on the ‘Physicians’ blog.’ Although run for physicians, we thought you might like to be able to see physicians discussing research issues. The blog is run by the distinguished American rheumatologist, Dr. Theodore Pincus. He is A Master of the American College of Rheumatology and a Clinical Professor of Medicine at New York University.