Relation between coronavirus disease 2019 severity and short outcome in rheumatic disease Patients

Background Three years ago, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was the most threatening issue that the world was forced to fight. The interrelationship between COVID-19 and autoimmunity is complex and bidirectional. There was world concern about the severity of COVID infection in rheumatic patients; however, other studies have found no difference between them and the general population. Objectives To study the clinical character of rheumatic disease patients (RDP) with COVID and the outcome and compare this outcome with the nonrheumatic patients. Patients and methods This investigation was conducted retrospectively; all patients were recruited from quarantine hospitals. This study included 100 randomly selected COVID-19 patients with RDP and 200 COVID-19 patients with comorbidities other than rheumatological disease. Results The RDP presented with fever in 75%, and more than 60% developed cough and dyspnea. One-third of the patients developed anosmia and 25% lost the taste sensation; 72% of the studied RDP were admitted to Ain Shams University’s quarantine hospitals. Mean of the patients’ hospital stay of RDP was 15.4 ± 6.7; 38% of those were admitted to the ICU. Moreover, 27% had needed mechanical ventilation, 14% developed cytokine storm, and finally, 11% of RDP died due to COVID infection; 89% of RDP had been resolved from COVID infection. Conclusions Three-quarters of the recruited patients needed hospitalization. The mortality was 11%. The frequency of hospitalization and mortality of RDP were related significantly to the severity of COVID-19 infection, presence of comorbidity, and use of cyclophosphamide. Despite this, the outcomes of rheumatic patients and the general population were not significantly different.