Outpatient Use of Monoclonal Antibodies in Pregnant Individuals With Mild or Moderate Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Treatment with monoclonal antibodies has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of hospitalization and disease progression among high-risk patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Pregnant individuals were excluded from the original trials. In this single-center retrospective cohort study, we evaluated whether monoclonal antibody treatment in pregnant individuals is associated with decreased risk of hospitalization. Outcomes of patients who received the treatment were compared with those who were eligible but did not receive the treatment. Analyses were stratified by vaccination status. Unvaccinated pregnant patients with mild or moderate COVID-19 who received outpatient monoclonal antibodies were less likely to be admitted to the hospital (4.2% vs 15.7%, odds ratio 0.24, 95% CI 0.07-0.74), whereas among vaccinated patients, the treatment was not associated with a lower rate of hospitalization (2.3% vs 0%, P=.99).

Impact of rapid infliximab infusions on access at a large academic tertiary medical center.

PURPOSE: Infliximab promotes remission in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and rheumatologic disease (RD). Rapid infliximab infusions (RI) reduce infusion time from 2 hours to 1 hour and can enhance access to care, as defined by capacity, safety, and patient characteristics. Our hypothesis for the study described here was that use of RI can enhance access for patients. METHODS: Data on all patients receiving infliximab for IBD or RD at our outpatient infusion center from February 2016 to August 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. Demographic and clinical information were collected. RESULTS: Of 348 patients who received infliximab, 205 had IBD and 143 had RD. In terms of capacity, 40% of patients received RI, resulting in a 16.1% decrease in average daily infusion time and a 9.8% increase in average daily available scheduled infusion chair time (P = 0.720). In terms of safety, 4 patients switched back to standard infusions after RI, after 3 specifically had reactions to RI. In terms of patient characteristics, more patients with RD versus IBD received RI (P = 0.020). Among the patients with RD, a lower proportion receiving RI were female (P = 0.043). For the patients with IBD, a higher proportion receiving RI were White (P = 0.048). Among both patients with RD and patients with IBD, a higher proportion receiving RI had private insurance (P = 0.016 and P = 0.018, respectively). CONCLUSION: RI were safe and increased available chair time. Females with RD, patients of non-White race with IBD, and patients with public insurance were less likely to receive RI. Future directions include patient surveys and evaluation of implicit bias against patient factors that may impact access to RI.