Outcomes of COVID-19 Omicron variant in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a nationwide Greek cohort study.
Rheumatology (Oxford)
; 63(4): 1130-1138, 2024 Apr 02.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37467059
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
Patients with RA were at increased risk for COVID-19-associated hospitalization and death during the first year of the pandemic in Greece. We aimed to examine their outcomes after the SARS-Cov-2 Omicron, a more contagious but with milder clinical impacts variant, prevailed.METHODS:
A retrospective, nationwide study was conducted between 1 January 2022 and 30 June 2022 in all RA patients under treatment and matched (15) on age, sex and region of domicile random general population comparators. Confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections, hospitalizations and deaths, anti-rheumatic medications, prior COVID-19, vaccinations and anti-viral medications were recorded.RESULTS:
Among 34 182 RA patients, infections (n = 5569, 16.29%), hospitalizations (n = 489, 1.43%) and deaths (n = 106, 0.31%) were more frequent than among comparators. Incidence rates per 1000 person/years of infection [IRR (95% CI)1.19 (1.16, 1.23)], hospitalization [IRR (95% CI)2.0 (1.82, 2.24)], and death [IRR (95% CI)1.81 (1.44, 2.27)] were increased in RA despite better vaccination coverage (89% vs 84%) and more frequent use of anti-viral medications (2.37% vs 1.08). Logistic regression analysis after correcting for age, sex, vaccinations, prior COVID-19, and anti-viral medications in SARS-CoV-2 infected RA patients and comparators revealed increased risk of hospitalization (OR 2.02, 95% CI 1.79, 2.27) and death [OR 1.73, (95% CI 1.36, 2.20)] in RA. Among infected RA patients, rituximab treatment conferred increased risks for hospitalization [OR 6.12, (95% CI 2.89, 12.92)] and death [OR 12.06 (95% CI 3.90, 37.31)], while JAK inhibitors increased only hospitalization risk [OR 2.18 (95% CI 1.56, 3.06)].CONCLUSION:
RA remains a risk factor for hospitalization and death in an era of a relatively low COVID-19 fatality rate, pointing to the need of perseverance in vaccination programs and wider use of anti-viral medications.Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Artritis Reumatoide
/
COVID-19
Tipo de estudio:
Etiology_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Límite:
Humans
País/Región como asunto:
Europa
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Rheumatology (Oxford)
Asunto de la revista:
REUMATOLOGIA
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Grecia