Systematic analysis for clinical characteristics and outcomes of IgG4-related disease patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: To systematically describe clinical characteristics and investigate factors associated with COVID-19-related infection, hospital admission, and IgG4-related disease relapse in IgG4-RD patients. METHODS: Physician-reported IgG4-RD patients were included in this retrospective study. Using multivariable logistic regression analysis to determine factors for primary outcome (COVID-19-related IgG4-RD relapse) and secondary outcome (COVID-19-related infection and hospital admission). Covariates included age, sex, body mass index, smoking status, comorbidities, IgG4-RD clinical features, and treatment strategies. RESULTS: Among 649 patients, 530 had a diagnosis of COVID-19, 25 had COVID-19-related hospital admission, and 69 had COVID-19-related IgG4-RD relapse. Independent factors associated with COVID-19 infection were age (OR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.96-1.00), body mass index (1.10, 1.03-1.18), and tofacitinib (0.34, 0.14-0.79). Further analysis indicated that age (1.10, 1.03-1.16), coronary heart disease (24.38, 3.33-178.33), COVID-19-related dyspnea (7.11, 1.85-27.34), pulmonary infection (73.63, 16.22-4615.34), and methotrexate (17.15, 1.93-157.79) were associated with a higher risk of COVID-19-related hospital admission. Importantly, age (0.93, 0.89-0.98), male sex (0.16, 0.03-0.80), ever/current smoking (19.23, 3.78-97.80), COVID-19-related headache (2.98, 1.09-8.17) and psychiatric symptoms (3.12, 1.07-9.10), disease activity before COVID-19 (1.89, 1.02-3.51), number of involved organs (1.38, 1.08-1.76), glucocorticoid dosage (1.08, 1.03-1.13), and methotrexate (5.56, 1.40-22.08) were strong factors for COVID-19-related IgG4-RD relapse. CONCLUSIONS: Our data add to evidence that smoking and disease-specific factors (disease activity, number of involved organs, and specific medications) were risk factors of COVID-19-related IgG4-RD relapse. The results highlight the importance of adequate disease control with b/tsDMARDs, preferably without using methotrexate and increasing glucocorticoid dosages in the COVID-19 era. Key Points • COVID-19-related infection or hospital admission were associated with known general factors (age, body mass index, specific comorbidities and methotrexate) among IgG4-RD patients. • Smoking and disease-specific factors (disease activity, number of involved organs and specific medications) were associated with higher odds of COVID-19-related IgG4-RD relapse. • The results highlight the importance of adequate disease control with b/tsDMARDs, preferably without using methotrexate or increasing glucocorticoid dosages.

Relationship between serum uric acid levels and osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis (OP) is a systemic bone disease in which bone density and quality decrease and bone fragility increases due to a variety of causes, making it prone to fractures. The development of OP is closely related to oxidative stress. Uric acid (UA) is the end product of purine metabolism in the human body. Extracellular UA has antioxidant properties and is thought to have a protective effect on bone metabolism. However, the process of UA degradation can lead to intracellular oxidative stress, which together with UA-induced inflammatory factors, leads to increased bone destruction. In addition, UA can inhibit vitamin D production, resulting in secondary hyperparathyroidism and further exacerbating UA-associated bone loss. This review summarizes the relationship between serum UA levels and bone mineral density, bone turnover markers, and so on, in the hope of providing new insights into the pathogenesis and treatment of OP.

SGLT-2 Inhibitors for Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Review.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a group of metabolic liver illnesses that lead to accumulation of liver fat mainly due to excessive nutrition. It is closely related to insulin resistance, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, and has become one of the main causes of chronic liver disease worldwide. At present, there is no specific drug for the treatment of NAFLD; lifestyle interventions including dietary control and exercise are recommended as routine treatments. As a drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, sodium-glucose co-transporter type 2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors may also play a beneficial role in the treatment of NAFLD. This article reviews the mechanism of SGLT-2 inhibitors in the treatment of NAFLD.