Investigation of changes in ankylosing spondylitis disease activity through 2021 COVID-19 wave in Taiwan by using electronic medical record management system

Abstract

We aim to investigate the alteration in disease activity of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) individuals before, during, and after the COVID-19 wave in Taiwan by using electronic medical-record management system (EMRMS). We identified 126 AS individuals from the single center, and gathered data of the three disease activities (Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index [BASDAI], Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score with erythrocyte sedimentation rate [ASDAS-ESR], and Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score with C-Reactive Protein [ASDAS-CRP]) by using EMRMS before (7 February to 1 May, 2021), during (2 May to 24 July, 2021), and after the COVID-19 wave (25 July to 16 October, 2021). We compared the disease activity measures of the three phases through a paired t test. Among the 126 individuals, CRP was significantly higher during the COVID-19 wave (0.2 (0.1, 0.5) mg/dl, p = 0.001) than before the wave (0.2 (0.1, 0.4) mg/dl), ESR (8.0 (4.0, 15.0) mm/h, p = 0.003) and ASDAS-ESR (1.4 (1.0, 1.9), p = 0.032) were significantly higher after the wave than during the wave (6.0 (3.0, 12.0) mm/h and 1.2 (0.9, 1.8) mm/h) e. ESR, CRP, ASDAS-ESR and ASDAS-CRP were all significant higher after COVID-19 wave than before. The disease activities of AS individuals in Taiwan worsened after 2021 COVID-19 wave in Taiwan.

Figure 1

Weekly numbers of new SARS-CoV-2 infections registered in Taiwan; pre-COVID-19-wave phase: 6th–17th week of 2021 (February 7–May 1, 2021). COVID-19-wave phase: 18th–29th week of 2021 (May 2–July 24, 2021) post-COVID-19-wave phase: 30th–41st week of 2021 (July 25–October 16, 2021). *The weekly calculations are based on WHO’s year-week comparison table, where each week includes all 7 days and the first week of each year does not necessarily include January.