Gout, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and the Risk of Death Related to Coronavirus Disease 2019: An Analysis of the UK Biobank

Abstract

Objectives: The objectives for this study were to assess whether gout and/or rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are risk factors for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) diagnosis and to assess whether gout and/or RA are risk factors for death from COVID-19.

Methods: We used data from the UK Biobank. Multivariable-adjusted logistic regression was employed in the following analyses: analysis A, to test for association between gout and/or RA and COVID-19 diagnosis (n = 473,139); analysis B, to test for association between gout and/or RA and death from COVID-19 in a case-control cohort of people who died of or survived COVID-19 (n = 2059); analysis C, to test for association between gout and/or RA and death from COVID-19 in the entire UK Biobank cohort (n = 473,139).

Results: RA, but not gout, was associated with COVID-19 diagnosis in analysis A. Neither RA nor gout was associated with risk of death in the group diagnosed with COVID-19 in analysis B. However, RA was associated with risk of death related to COVID-19 by using the UK Biobank cohort in analysis C, independent of comorbidities and other measured risk factors (odds ratio [OR] 1.9; 95% confidence interval CI 1.2-3.0). Gout was not associated with death related to COVID-19 in the same UK Biobank analysis (OR 1.2; 95% CI 0.8-1.7).

Conclusion: RA is a risk factor for death from COVID-19 by using the UK Biobank cohort. These findings require replication in larger data sets that also allow for inclusion of a wider range of factors.

Figure 1

Data sources of individuals diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19)‐. Of the 2118 individuals diagnosed with COVID‐19, 1712 were identified from positive severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) test results (880 unique to this group), 1057 were identified from hospital records (242 unique to this group), and 457 were identified from death records (133 unique to this group).