16 February 2023
2022 was a fantastic year for BSR’s clinical guideline programme, with four new guidelines published. We’d like to take this opportunity to reflect back on the year and all that was achieved around our gold standard guidelines. Below are our guidelines in numbers, and our key highlights:
Guidelines in numbers
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Timeline
- 25 April: Myositis guideline launched at BSR Annual Conference
The first guideline to present evidence-based recommendations for paediatric, adolescent and adult patients.
- 31 May: Psoriatic arthritis guideline launches
An updated guideline containing recommendations and best practice when caring for people with psoriatic arthritis. - 1 November: Two new guidelines launched to support prescribing during pregnancy
Covering medications to treat co-morbidities and immunomodulatory drugs including biologics & small molecule drugs. - 17 November: First episode of the new video series: Rheumatology Roundtable
Discusses key messages from the new myositis guideline.
Prescribing in pregnancy and breastfeeding
In November 2022 we published an updated two-part guideline for prescribing drugs during pregnancy and breastfeeding, alongside a podcast summarising the recommendations and benefits for patients, which is our most downloaded Talking Rheumatology episode ever.
Patient charity Arthur’s Place, who bring together young adults aged 18-35 with arthritis, used the guideline to update their Project Mum website space.
Professor Ian Giles, lead for the guideline development, presented the recommendations to a primary care audience at the Guidelines Live conference in London in November.
Versus Arthritis published an article for their healthcare professional members to encourage them to refer to the guidelines in their practice and in discussions with patients.
The National Axial Spondyloarthritis Society (NASS) hosted a Facebook Live session in December, with 947 views so far. You can catch up on the session here, and the video is a really useful addition to NASS’s page about planning for a family.
Zoe Clark, who facilitated the NASS session, said, “It is great to work closely with the British Society for Rheumatology to help share the recommendations from their guidelines in a way that is understandable and relevant to any audience”.
New collaborations
Finally, wrapping up the year in December we announced a new collaboration with the research team at University of Keele to support the evidence reviews of BSR guidelines over the next three years.
Professor Ian Giles, Chair of our Standards, Audits and Guidelines Working Group, said:
“Creating our guidelines is a major voluntary effort by members, patients and practitioners, so this new relationship with researchers at Keele University will enable us to develop important guidance faster, to support more clinical decision-making at the coalface.”
The year ahead
It is set to be another busy year for BSR guidelines in 2023. Our lupus, axial spondyloarthritis, DMARDs, polymyalgia rheumatica and systemic sclerosis guidelines are all undergoing revisions, and we expect to publish an update to the Sjögren’s guideline. A new Behçets guideline is being co-produced with the British Association of Dermatologists, and a new Foot Health guideline later this year.