Overview of changes in RMD epidemiology and outcome development in the last 10 years

Epidemiological studies have been affected by environmental (or technological and societal) changes in the last 10 years, such as the emergence of registries, big data and machine learning algorithms, epigenetics, data protection regulations or a more solid presence of the patient perspective in outcomes research. As a consequence we, epidemiologists, are facing challenges in the design, conduct, and analysis of the studies, as well as on the interpretation of the results. Not everything that is new may be better than the old ways of doing epidemiology. In this article, we will review pros and cons of new technologies and regulations on epidemiological research, as well as ways to tackle obstacles and co-living of old and new methods.