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. 2020 Oct;50(5):885-889.
doi: 10.1016/j.semarthrit.2020.07.012. Epub 2020 Jul 24.

Incidence and clinical course of COVID-19 in patients with rheumatologic diseases: A population-based study

Ho So  1 , Joyce Wing-Yan Mak  2 , Jacqueline So  3 , Grace Lui  3 , Frankie Lun  2 , Jolly Lee  4 , Shirley Chan  5 , Carmen Ho  5 , Jacky Man-Chun Chan  6 , Shing-Pak Kong  7 , Woon-Leung Ng  7 , Lai-Shan Tam  3
Affiliations

Incidence and clinical course of COVID-19 in patients with rheumatologic diseases: A population-based study

Ho So et al. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

Objectives: Patients with rheumatologic diseases might be more susceptible to COVID-19 and carry a poorer prognosis. The aim of this study is to examine the incidence and outcomes of all COVID-19 patients with rheumatologic conditions in Hong Kong.

Methods: This is a population-based retrospective study. All patients tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by PCR with a previous diagnosis of rheumatologic diseases were reviewed. The incidence of COVID-19 in patients with rheumatologic conditions was calculated and compared to the general population in Hong Kong. Descriptive data of those rheumatologic patients with COVID-19 and the clinical course of the index infection were presented.

Results: Up till 27 May 2020, there were 1067 cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in Hong Kong which had a population of 7.5 million. Out of the 39,835 patients with underlying rheumatologic diseases, we identified 5 PCR confirmed COVID-19 cases. The estimated incidence of COVID-19 was 0.0126% patients with rheumatologic diseases, compared to 0.0142% in the general population. All 5 patients had inflammatory arthropathies. One patient was on hydroxychloroquine and sulphasalazine, and one was on methotrexate. None of the 3534 patients on b/tsDMARDs was infected. Four patients had leucopenia/lymphopenia and stool viral PCR was positive in 3 patients. All patients made uneventful recovery without complications or flare of underlying diseases.

Conclusions: We found no alarming signals of increased frequency or severity of COVID-19 in patients with rheumatologic diseases, although extrapolation of the results to other populations with different infection control strategies should be made with caution.

Keywords: COVID-19; Incidence; Outcome; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interests None declared.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig. 1
1067 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Hong Kong (as of 27th May 2020).
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