Occurrence and relative risks of COVID-related events and other outcomes in individuals with chronic IJDs (rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, other spondyloarthropathies and juvenile idiopathic arthritis) during wave 1 and wave 2 combined (March–June 2020 and October 2020–January 2021) according to DMARD treatment status at the beginning of each wave
| Events (N) | Crude risk (%), both waves | Crude risk (%), wave 1 | Crude risk (%), wave 2 | Adjusted HR* | ||
| IJD | ||||||
| Hospitalisation, all causes | csDMARD | 4212 | 5.9 | 6.1 | 5.8 | Ref |
| TNFi | 1812 | 4.1 | 4.4 | 3.7 | 0.95 (0.87 to 1.03) | |
| Abatacept | 187 | 7.0 | 6.3 | 7.5 | 0.92 (0.76 to 1.12) | |
| Tocilizumab | 114 | 5.6 | 5.6 | 5.5 | 0.90 (0.71 to 1.15) | |
| Rituximab | 362 | 8.5 | 9.1 | 7.7 | 1.21 (1.03 to 1.41) | |
| JAKi | 224 | 6.3 | 6.3 | 6.2 | 0.92 (0.76 to 1.11) | |
| All b/tsDMARDs | 2699 | 4.7 | 5.0 | 4.4 | 0.95 (0.88 to 1.02) | |
| Hospitalisation, COVID-19 | csDMARD | 381 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.5 | Ref |
| TNFi | 115 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.79 (0.58 to 1.08) | |
| Abatacept | 9 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.58 (0.23 to 1.42) | |
| Tocilizumab | 5 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.67 (0.22 to 2.08) | |
| Rituximab | 42 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.43 (0.89 to 2.30) | |
| JAKi | 31 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 1.99 (1.18 to 3.35) | |
| All b/tsDMARDs | 202 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.89 (0.68 to 1.17) | |
| Death, all-causes | csDMARD | 588 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.8 | Ref |
| TNFi | 104 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.60 (0.44 to 0.82) | |
| Abatacept | 20 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.87 (0.49 to 1.54) | |
| Tocilizumab | 10 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.72 (0.34 to 1.52) | |
| Rituximab | 52 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 1.53 (1.00 to 2.35) | |
| JAKi | 25 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.99 (0.56 to 1.73) | |
| All b/tsDMARDs | 211 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.72 (0.55 to 0.94) | |
| Death, COVID-19 | csDMARD | 127 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | Ref |
| TNFi | 19 | 0.04 | 0.03 | 0.1 | 0.81 (0.42 to 1.58) | |
| Abatacept | 4 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.2 | – | |
| Tocilizumab | 2 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.0 | – | |
| Rituximab | 14 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 2.08 (0.94 to 4.60) | |
| JAKi | 7 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.34 (0.49 to 3.65) | |
| All b/tsDMARDs | 46 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 1.03 (0.62 to 1.68) | |
| RA | ||||||
| Hospitalisation, all-causes | csDMARD | 3200 | 6.7 | 6.7 | 6.6 | Ref |
| TNFi | 1048 | 5.0 | 5.3 | 4.6 | 0.89 (0.81 to 0.98) | |
| Abatacept | 173 | 7.0 | 6.5 | 7.5 | 0.82 (0.67 to 1.00) | |
| Tocilizumab | 107 | 5.7 | 5.9 | 5.5 | 0.82 (0.64 to 1.06) | |
| Rituximab | 355 | 8.4 | 9.1 | 7.7 | 1.05 (0.89 to 1.23) | |
| JAKi | 188 | 6.5 | 6.4 | 6.6 | 0.81 (0.66 to 0.99) | |
| All b/tsDMARDs | 1871 | 5.8 | 6.0 | 5.5 | 0.88 (0.80 to 0.96) | |
| Hospitalisation, COVID-19 | csDMARD | 294 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 | Ref |
| TNFi | 62 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.75 (0.52 to 1.09) | |
| Abatacept | 8 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.46 (0.18 to 1.21) | |
| Tocilizumab | 5 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.75 (0.24 to 2.37) | |
| Rituximab | 42 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.35 (0.83 to 2.22) | |
| JAKi | 24 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 1.68 (0.92 to 3.05) | |
| All b/tsDMARDs | 141 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.87 (0.64 to 1.20) | |
| Death, all-causes | csDMARD | 531 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.1 | Ref |
| TNFi | 82 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.57 (0.41 to 0.79) | |
| Abatacept | 19 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.69 (0.39 to 1.21) | |
| Tocilizumab | 10 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.57 (0.27 to 1.18) | |
| Rituximab | 51 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 1.04 (0.67 to 1.63) | |
| JAKi | 23 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.80 (0.44 to 1.45) | |
| All b/tsDMARDs | 185 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.64 (0.48 to 0.86) | |
| Death, COVID-19 | csDMARD | 117 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 | Ref |
| TNFi | 15 | 0.07 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.71 (0.35 to 1.42) | |
| Abatacept | 4 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.2 | – | |
| Tocilizumab | 2 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0 | – | |
| Rituximab | 14 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.46 (0.68 to 3.14) | |
| JAKi | 7 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.09 (0.40 to 2.95) | |
| All bDMARD/tsDMARDs | 42 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.88 (0.52 to 1.47) |
*Adjusted HRs were estimated from inverse probability of treatment-weighted Cox regression models where weights accounted for history of comorbidities (cancer, diabetes, heart failure, ischaemic heart disease, lung disease, kidney failure, stroke, surgery and venous thrombotic event), highest educational achievement, country of birth, marital status, number of hospitalisation days (previous year and previous 10 years), additional adjustment of previous bDMARD/tsDMARD use, number of previous bDMARD/tsDMARDs, concomitant use of csDMARDs and steroids were included in the Cox regression. Note that HRs are not presented where events are <5.
bDMARD, biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drug; csDMARD, conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug; DMARD, disease-modifying antirheumatic drug; Ref, reference; TNFi, Tumor Necrosis Factor inhibitors; tsDMARD, targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug.