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Review
. 2022 Aug;4(8):e566-e575.
doi: 10.1016/S2665-9913(22)00130-8. Epub 2022 Jul 21.

Systemic sclerosis in the time of COVID-19

Anna-Maria Hoffmann-Vold  1 , Oliver Distler  2 , Cosimo Bruni  2   3 , Christopher P Denton  4 , Jeska de Vries-Bouwstra  5 , Marco Matucci Cerinic  3   6 , Madelon C Vonk  7 , Armando Gabrielli  8
Affiliations
Review

Systemic sclerosis in the time of COVID-19

Anna-Maria Hoffmann-Vold et al. Lancet Rheumatol. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic represents one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century. In addition to the general effect on society and health-care systems, patients with systemic sclerosis and their physicians face specific challenges related to the chronic nature of their disease, the involvement of multiple organs, and the use of immunosuppressive treatments. Data from registries and single centre cohorts indicate that the risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 does not seem to increase substantially in people with systemic sclerosis; conversely, severe COVID-19 outcomes are seen more frequently in these patients than in the general population. Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 is therefore highly recommended for patients with systemic sclerosis; however, no specific recommendations are available regarding the different vaccine platforms. Both patients and physicians should be aware that the effectiveness of vaccines might be reduced in patients taking immunosuppressive therapy, because antibody responses might be blunted, specifically in patients treated with rituximab and mycophenolate mofetil.

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Conflict of interest statement

A-MH-V reports research grants, consulting fees, and payment or honoraria for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing, or educational events from Actelion, ARXX Therapeutics, Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche, Bayer, Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), Lilly, and Medscape; and support for attending meetings or travel from Actelion, Boerhinger Ingelheim, and Medscape. OD reports research grants from Kymera and Mitsubishi Tanabe; consultancy fees for scleroderma and its complications from AbbVie, Acceleron, Alcimed, Amgen, AnaMar, ARXX Therapeutics, Baecon, Blade, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chemomb, Corbus, CSL Behring, Galapagos, Glenmark, GSK, Horizon (Curzion), Inventiva, iQvia, Kymera, Lupin, Medac, Medscape, Mitsubishi Tanabe, MSD, Roche, Roivant, Topadur, and UBC; speaker fees on scleroderma and related complications from Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Medscape, Novartis, and Roche; and patent issued for mir-29 for the treatment of systemic sclerosis (US8247389 and EP2331143). CB reports grants or contracts from Fondazione Italiana per la Ricerca sull'Artrite (known as FIRA), research grant edition 2018; European Scleroderma Trial and Research (known as EUSTAR) in the form of a travel bursary research grant, edition 2019; New Horizon Fellowship in form of travel bursary research grant, edition 2019; Foundation for Research in Rheumatology (known as Foreum) in the form of an international fellowship grant, edition 2020; Gruppo Italiano lotta alla sclerodermia (known as GILS) in the form of a research grant, edition 2020; consulting fees from Boehringer-Ingelheim in 2020–21, and Eli-Lilly in 2019–21; and payment or honoraria for presentations from Actelion (Janssen) as honoraria in 2019, and Eli-Lilly as honoraria in 2021. CPD reports grants or contracts from Servier, Inventiva, ARRX Therapeutics, and GSK – all to institution; consulting fees from GSK, Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche, and CSL Behring; and payment or honoraria for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing, or educational events from Boehringer Ingelheim. MMC reports consulting fees from Chemomab and Nativita, and payment or honoraria for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing, or educational events from Biogen, Lilly, Pfizer, Galapagos, and Janssen. MCV reports grants or contracts from Boehringer Ingelheim, Actelion Pharmaceuticals, Ferrer, and Galapagos; consultancy fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, Corbus, and Janssen; payment or honoraria for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing, or educational events from Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GSK, Janssen, MSD, Novartis, and Roche; and participation on a data safety monitoring board or advisory board from Corbus. JdV-B reports grants or contracts from Janssen, Cilag BV, Galapagos, ReumaNederland, NVLE (nederlandse vereniging voor lupus, APS, sclerodermie en MCTD; Dutch society for systemic lupus erythematosus, antiphospholipid syndrome, systemic sclerosis, and mixed connective tissue disease), and Health Holland; consulting fees from Abbvie and Boehringer-Ingelheim; and payment or honoraria for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing, or educational event from Janssen-Cilag and Bristol-Myers Squibb. AG declares no competing interests.

References

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