Unauthorized change of immunosuppressants by patients with rheumatic diseases in the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional analysis of a patient survey.

This study provides insight in behavior and perspective of rheumatic patients during the first COVID-19 wave. Especially, we analyzed the patients' fear of COVID-19 and unauthorized change of immunosuppressive medication in consequence of their fear. We hereby provide data from 877 patients with valuable insights into the patients' point of view. We retrospectively interviewed patients of our rheumatic university outpatient clinic. This way, we collected information about the patients' personal point of view. Data like the rheumatic diagnosis and immunosuppressive medication was extracted from the health records. Statistical analysis was conducted using IBM® SPSS® Statistics (version 26). A total of 877 patients were included into our study. We could show that fear of COVID-19 was clearly present in rheumatic patients. Higher fear levels seem to be associated with comorbidity burden. Unauthorized change of immunosuppressive medication was rare in our study (5%). In our study we provide novel insight into patients' point of view and behavior of rheumatic patients. Unauthorized change of immunosuppressive medication was rare (5%) as seen in other studies. The low rate of unauthorized change and high rate of compliance is reassuring since good disease control appears to be prognostically important in the progression of COVID-19 disease. Therefore, as the pandemic continues, treatment decisions should be made in close consultation between patient and practitioner to improve adherence and reduce morbidity and mortality.

The Role of Antiphospholipid Antibodies in COVID-19.

PURPOSE OF THE REVIEW: Elevated levels of anti-phospholipid (aPL) antibodies are the most important criterion in the diagnosis of anti-phospholipid syndrome (APS) and are usually responsible for promoting the risk of thrombotic complications. Now, in the course of the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, measurable aPL antibodies have also been detected in a noticeable number of patients showing a variety ranging from studies with only isolated positive tests to cohorts with very high positivity. Thus, the question arises as to whether these two different clinical pictures may be linked. RECENT FINDINGS: The ambivalent results showed a frequent occurrence of the investigated aPL antibodies in COVID-19 patients to an individually varying degree. While some question a substantial correlation according to their results, a number of studies raise questions about the significance of a correlation of aPL antibodies in COVID-19 patients. Within the scope of this review, these have now been described and compared with each other. Ultimately, it is necessary to conduct further studies that specifically test aPL antibodies in a larger context in order to make subsequent important statements about the role of APS in COVID-19 and to further strengthen the significance of the described comparisons.