Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Apr 23;10(9):1844.
doi: 10.3390/jcm10091844.

Autoimmune Diseases and COVID-19 as Risk Factors for Poor Outcomes: Data on 13,940 Hospitalized Patients from the Spanish Nationwide SEMI-COVID-19 Registry

María Del Mar Ayala Gutiérrez  1 , Manuel Rubio-Rivas  2 , Carlos Romero Gómez  1 , Abelardo Montero Sáez  2 , Iván Pérez de Pedro  1 , Narcís Homs  2 , Blanca Ayuso García  3 , Carmen Cuenca Carvajal  4 , Francisco Arnalich Fernández  5 , José Luis Beato Pérez  6 , Juan Antonio Vargas Núñez  7 , Laura Letona Giménez  8 , Carmen Suárez Fernández  9 , Manuel Méndez Bailón  10 , Carlota Tuñón de Almeida  11 , Julio González Moraleja  12 , Mayte de Guzmán García-Monge  13 , Cristina Helguera Amezua  14 , María Del Pilar Fidalgo Montero  15 , Vicente Giner Galvañ  16 , Ricardo Gil Sánchez  17 , Jorge Collado Sáenz  18 , Ramon Boixeda  19 , José Manuel Ramos Rincón  20 , Ricardo Gómez Huelgas  1 , On Behalf Of The Semi-Covid-Network
Affiliations

Autoimmune Diseases and COVID-19 as Risk Factors for Poor Outcomes: Data on 13,940 Hospitalized Patients from the Spanish Nationwide SEMI-COVID-19 Registry

María Del Mar Ayala Gutiérrez et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

(1) Objectives: To describe the clinical characteristics and clinical course of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and autoimmune diseases (ADs) compared to the general population. (2) Methods: We used information available in the nationwide Spanish SEMI-COVID-19 Registry, which retrospectively compiles data from the first admission of adult patients with COVID-19. We selected all patients with ADs included in the registry and compared them to the remaining patients. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality during admission, readmission, and subsequent admissions, and secondary outcomes were a composite outcome including the need for intensive care unit (ICU) admission, invasive and non-invasive mechanical ventilation (MV), or death, as well as in-hospital complications. (3) Results: A total of 13,940 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 were included, of which 362 (2.6%) had an AD. Patients with ADs were older, more likely to be female, and had greater comorbidity. On the multivariate logistic regression analysis, which involved the inverse propensity score weighting method, AD as a whole was not associated with an increased risk of any of the outcome variables. Habitual treatment with corticosteroids (CSs), age, Barthel Index score, and comorbidity were associated with poor outcomes. Biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) were associated with a decrease in mortality in patients with AD. (4) Conclusions: The analysis of the SEMI-COVID-19 Registry shows that ADs do not lead to a different prognosis, measured by mortality, complications, or the composite outcome. Considered individually, it seems that some diseases entail a different prognosis than that of the general population. Immunosuppressive/immunoregulatory treatments (IST) prior to admission had variable effects.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; antirheumatic agents; autoimmune diseases; biological therapy; glucocorticoids; immune system diseases.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Situation of COVID-19 in Spain. [(accessed on 22 February 2021)]; Available online: https://www.mscbs.gob.es/profesionales/saludPublica/ccayes/alertasActual....
    1. Wu Z., McGoogan J.M. Characteristics of and Important Lessons from the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Outbreak in China: Summary of a Report of 72,314 Cases from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. JAMA. 2020;323:1239–1242. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.2648. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Richardson S., Hirsch J.S., Narasimhan M., Crawford J.M., McGinn T., Davidson K.W., The Northwell COVID-19 Research Consortium. Barnaby D.P., Becker L.B., Chelico J.D., et al. Presenting Characteristics, Comorbidities, and Outcomes Among 5700 Patients Hospitalized With COVID-19 in the New York City Area. JAMA. 2020;323:2052–2059. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.6775. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Doran M.F., Crowson C.S., Pond G.R., O’Fallon W.M., Gabriel S.E. Frequency of infection in patients with rheumatoid arthritis compared with controls: A population-based study. Arthr. Rheum. 2002;46:2287–2293. doi: 10.1002/art.10524. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Li T.H., Lai C.C., Wang W.H., Chen W.S., Tsao Y.P., Tsai C.Y., Chang Y.S. Risk of severe herpes simplex virus infection in systemic lupus erythematosus: Analysis of epidemiology and risk factors analysis in Taiwan. Ann. Rheum. Dis. 2019;78:941–946. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2018-214844. - DOI - PubMed