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A new look at rheumatology in China—opportunities and challenges

Nature Reviews Rheumatology volume 11, pages 313–317 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

In the past two decades, Chinese rheumatology has developed rapidly in terms of both clinical practice and basic research. Many rheumatology departments and divisions have been established, creating positions for more residents to join rheumatology practices. Numerous studies of rheumatic diseases have been published in recent years by Chinese rheumatologists and immunologists, supported by government funding that has dramatically increased over the past few years. These studies are focused mainly on epidemiology, mechanisms, early diagnosis and interventions of rheumatic diseases. Increasing numbers of national and international scientific activities in China, including research collaborations, education programmes and conferences have greatly helped the development of rheumatology. In this APLAR series article, the major, high-impact studies and latest developments in Chinese rheumatology are reviewed.

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Figure 1: The tree of RA research.
Figure 2: Current understanding of molecular immune mechanisms of RA.
Figure 3: Funding for rheumatology in China.

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks Drs Tian Liu, Xiaolin Sun and Guanying Wang for their help with data acquisition, statistics and manuscript preparation. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views of others or of any organization.

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  1. Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Peking University People's Hospital, 11 Xizhimen South Street, Beijing, 100044, China

    Zhan-guo Li

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Correspondence to Zhan-guo Li.

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Li, Zg. A new look at rheumatology in China—opportunities and challenges. Nat Rev Rheumatol 11, 313–317 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrrheum.2014.218

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