Prevalence of Hospital PCR Confirmed Covid-19 Cases in Patients with Chronic Inflammatory and Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases (preprint)

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT Background. The susceptibility of patients with rheumatic diseases, and the risks or benefits of immunosuppressive therapies for COVID-19 are unknown. Methods. We performed a retrospective study with patients under follow-up in rheumatology departments from seven hospitals in Spain. We matched updated databases of rheumatology patients with SARS-CoV-2 positive PCR tests performed in the hospital to the same reference populations. Incidences of PCR+ confirmed COVID-19 were compared among groups. Results. Patients with chronic inflammatory diseases had 1.32-fold higher prevalence of hospital PCR+ COVID-19 than the reference population (0.76% vs 0.58%). Systemic autoimmune or immune mediated diseases (AI/IMID) patients showed a significant increase, whereas inflammatory arthritis (IA) or systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients did not. COVID-19 cases in some but not all diagnostic groups had older ages than cases in the reference population. IA patients on targeted-synthetic or biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (ts/bDMARD), but not those on conventional-synthetic (csDMARD), had a greater prevalence despite a similar age distribution. Conclusion. Patients with AI/IMID show a variable risk of hospital diagnosed COVID-19. Interplay of aging, therapies, and disease specific factors seem to contribute. These data provide a basis to improve preventive recommendations to rheumatic patients and to analyze the specific factors involved in COVID-19 susceptibility.