COVID-19 Elevates Risk for Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases

SARS-CoV-2 infection correlated with a heightened risk of autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases (AIRDs), persisting for up to 12 months post-infection ().

These findings suggest that care strategies for patients who survive COVID-19 should pay close attention to manifestations of AIRD, particularly after severe illness. The study is published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

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However, these findings are based entirely on comparisons between groups infected with SARS-CoV-2 and those that are not, which might be biased by differences in health-seeking behavior and inherent risk factors within the groups. In addition, studies have not explored the effect of vaccination and other modifiable factors on prevention of long term COVID-19 complications.

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‘A higher risk of autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases was identified with increased severity of acute COVID-19, even in individuals who had been vaccinated. #COVID #rheumatic’

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Researchers from Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea used data from two national, large-scale, general population-based cohort studies in Korea and Japan to investigate the effect of COVID-19 on long-term risk for incident AIRD over various follow-up periods. The data comprised of more than 10 million Korean and 12 million Japanese adults, including those with COVID-19 between January 2020 and December 2021, matched to patients with influenza infection and to uninfected control patients.

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There is an increased likelihood of individuals developing autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases if they have a history of previous COVID-19 infection.

The researchers assessed the data for onset of AIRD at 1, 6, and 12 months after COVID-19 or influenza infection, or the respective matched index date of uninfected control patients. They found increased risk for incident AIRD up to 12 months after COVID-19 diagnosis compared with the other two groups. Greater severity of acute COVID-19 was associated with higher risk for incident AIRD.

Reference:

Long-Term Autoimmune Inflammatory Rheumatic Outcomes of COVID-19 - (https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M23-1831)

Source-Eurekalert

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