COVID-19 Ills No Greater for Those With Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis

FRIDAY, Sept. four, 2020 (HealthDay News)

Individuals with lupus usually are not at improved risk of hospitalization from COVID-19 thanks to steroidal drugs they choose to reduce immune system exercise, a new analyze finds.

And a linked analyze uncovered that folks with inflammatory varieties of arthritis — these kinds of as rheumatoid arthritis — usually are not extra most likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than folks devoid of arthritis.

Both equally scientific studies were being led by scientists at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, in New York Metropolis.

The findings “must reassure most clients, in particular these on immunosuppressant therapy, that they are at no larger risk of getting to be admitted to hospital from COVID-19 than other lupus or arthritis clients,” Dr. Ruth Fernandez-Ruiz, co-author of the scientific studies, claimed in an NYU Langone news release.

“Individuals with lupus or inflammatory arthritis have the exact same risk factors for receiving severely unwell from COVID-19 as folks devoid of these problems,” claimed Fernandez-Ruiz, a postdoctoral fellow in rheumatology.

Lupus and problems like rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and spondyloarthritis are autoimmune diseases in which the immune system mistakenly attacks a person’s very own tissues. This will cause swelling in the joints, pores and skin, kidneys and other pieces of the system.

The scientists uncovered that lupus clients having immune-suppressing drugs — these kinds of as mycophenolate mofetil (CellCept) and azathioprine (Imuran) — experienced no larger risk of hospitalization (fifteen out of 24) than lupus clients not utilizing the drugs (nine of seventeen).

In addition, the COVID-19 hospitalization price for folks with inflammatory arthritis (26%) was identical to that of New York Metropolis people general (twenty five%).

A different finding was that clients having biologic drugs for arthritis, these kinds of as adalimumab (Humira) and etanercept (Enbrel), or the antiviral hydroxychloroquine, experienced no larger or decreased risk of COVID-19 hospitalization than these not having the drugs.

But clients who took steroids named glucocorticoids, even in mild doses, experienced a ten situations increased risk of COVID-19 hospitalization than these who failed to choose steroids. Even though the finding is statistically sizeable, the study’s small measurement may possibly overestimate the true risk, the scientists noted.

The scientific studies were being recently published on line in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatology.

— Robert Preidt

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Source: NYU Langone, news release, Aug. twenty five, 2020