RA and COVID-19 Severity
Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) possess an increased risk of COVID‐19-related hospitalization and/or death over patients without RA, according to a recent cohort study. Researchers also suggest patients with RA should take priority in COVID-19 care and management.
Using the national Veterans Affairs (VA) data, researchers studied patients living as of January 1, 2020, who received VA care in 2019. Patients with RA and without were matched on a 1:1 scale on sex, age, and the VA site. Researchers also compared patients according to COVID-19 data, including severe cases (hospitalization or death) through December 10, 2020.
“We used multivariable Cox models to compare the risk of COVID‐19 and COVID‐19 hospitalization or death after adjusting for demographics, comorbidities, health behaviors, and county level COVID‐19 incidence rates,” the authors reported.
Of the 33,886 patients in the study, 84.5% were male, with a mean age of 67.8 years.
“During follow‐up, there were 1,503 COVID‐19 diagnoses, 388 severe COVID‐19 cases, and 228 non‐COVID‐19 related deaths. After multivariable adjustment, RA was associated with a higher risk of COVID‐19—hazard ratio [HR] 1.25; 95% confidence interval; and COVID‐19 hospitalization or death: HR 1.35, 1.10, 1.66,” the authors concluded. “DMARDs and prednisone, but not RA autoantibody seropositivity, as well as Black race, Hispanic ethnicity, and several chronic conditions were associated with COVID‐19 and COVID‐19 hospitalization or death.”
--Angelique Platas
Reference
England BR, Roul P, Yang Y, et al. Risk of COVID‐19 in rheumatoid arthritis: a national Veterans Affairs matched cohort study in at‐risk individuals Arthritis Rheum. Published online May 5, 2021.