HealthDay Reporter
FRIDAY, Sept. 4, 2020 (HealthDay Information) — Folks with lupus aren’t at elevated danger of hospitalization from COVID-19 because of steroidal drugs they take to scale back immune system exercise, a brand new examine finds.
And a associated examine discovered that individuals with inflammatory types of arthritis — corresponding to rheumatoid arthritis — aren’t extra more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than folks with out arthritis.
Each research had been led by researchers at NYU Grossman College of Drugs, in New York Metropolis.
The findings “ought to reassure most sufferers, particularly these on immunosuppressant remedy, that they’re at no larger danger of getting to be admitted to hospital from COVID-19 than different lupus or arthritis sufferers,” Dr. Ruth Fernandez-Ruiz, co-author of the research, mentioned in an NYU Langone information launch.
“Folks with lupus or inflammatory arthritis have the identical danger components for getting significantly in poor health from COVID-19 as folks with out these issues,” mentioned Fernandez-Ruiz, a postdoctoral fellow in rheumatology.
Lupus and circumstances like rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and spondyloarthritis are autoimmune illnesses during which the immune system mistakenly assaults an individual’s personal tissues. This causes inflammation within the joints, pores and skin, kidneys and different components of the physique.
The researchers discovered that lupus sufferers taking immune-suppressing drugs — corresponding to mycophenolate mofetil (CellCept) and azathioprine (Imuran) — had no larger danger of hospitalization (15 out of 24) than lupus sufferers not utilizing the drugs (9 of 17).
As well as, the COVID-19 hospitalization charge for folks with inflammatory arthritis (26%) was much like that of New York Metropolis residents total (25%).
One other discovering was that sufferers taking biologic medication for arthritis, corresponding to adalimumab (Humira) and etanercept (Enbrel), or the antiviral hydroxychloroquine, had no larger or decrease danger of COVID-19 hospitalization than these not taking the medication.
However sufferers who took steroids referred to as glucocorticoids, even in delicate doses, had a ten occasions larger danger of COVID-19 hospitalization than those that did not take steroids. Though the discovering is statistically vital, the examine’s small dimension could overestimate the precise danger, the researchers famous.
The research had been not too long ago revealed on-line within the journal Arthritis and Rheumatology.
