Immunosuppression as a risk factor for COVID-19: a meta-analysis.
Intern Med J
; 51(2): 199-205, 2021 02.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33631862
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
While immunosuppression poses a theoretical increase in the risk of COVID-19, the nature of this relationship is yet to be ascertained.AIMS:
To determine whether immunosuppressed patients are at higher risk of COVID-19 to help inform the management of patients receiving immunosuppressant therapies during the pandemic.METHODS:
We performed a random-effects meta-analysis of data from studies that reported on the prevalence of immunosuppression among patient cohorts with COVID-19.RESULTS:
Sixty full-text publications were identified. In total, six individual studies were included in the final analysis, contributing a total of 10 049 patients with COVID-19 disease. The prevalence of immunosuppressed patients among the study cohorts with COVID-19 ranged from 0.126% to 1.357%. In the pooled cohort a total of 64/10 049 (0.637%) patients with COVID-19 disease was immunosuppressed. Observed to expected ratios were used to compare the prevalence of immunosuppression in cohorts with confirmed COVID-19 disease to the background prevalence of immunosuppression in the general community. The observed to expected ratio of immunosuppression among patients with COVID-19 illness, relative to the general community, was 0.12 (95% confidence interval 0.05-0.27).CONCLUSIONS:
Compared to the general population, immunosuppressed patients were not at significantly increased risk of COVID-19 infection. This finding provides support for current expert consensus statements, which have recommended the continuation of immunosuppressant therapy in the absence of COVID-19.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Terapia de Imunossupressão
/
COVID-19
Tipo de estudo:
Etiology_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
/
Systematic_reviews
Limite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article