Characteristics of patients with rheumatic immune-mediated inflammatory diseases: non-hospitalised versus hospitalised COVID-19 cases
| Patient characteristics | Non-hospitalised patients (n=324) | Hospitalised patients (n=23) |
| Age, years—mean (SD) | 54 (13) | 61 (11) |
| Female sex—no. (%) | 231 (71) | 9 (39) |
| Male sex—no. (%) | 93 (29) | 14 (61) |
| Body mass index, kg/m2—mean (SD) | 25 (5) | 27 (5) |
| Caucasian race—no. (%) | 266 (84) | 16 (76) |
| Educational level—no. (%) | ||
| High | 142 (46) | 7 (35) |
| Middle | 106 (34) | 8 (40) |
| Low | 62 (20) | 5 (25) |
| Current smoking status—no. (%) | 26 (8) | 1 (5) |
| Coexisting conditions—no. (%) | ||
| Cardiovascular disease | 30 (9) | 4 (17) |
| Chronic pulmonary disease | 34 (11) | 8 (35) |
| Diabetes | 10 (3) | 4 (17) |
| Obesity | 60 (19) | 5 (22) |
| Immune-mediated inflammatory disease type—no. (%) | ||
| Rheumatoid arthritis | 188 (58) | 10 (43) |
| Psoriatic arthritis | 54 (17) | 6 (26) |
| Ankylosing spondylitis | 40 (12) | 5 (22) |
| Axial or peripheral spondyloarthritis | 6 (2) | 1 (4) |
| Juvenile idiopathic arthritis | 8 (3) | 0 (0) |
| Systemic lupus erythematosus | 14 (4) | 0 (0) |
| Vasculitis | 16 (5) | 1 (4) |
| Polymyalgia rheumatica | 12 (4) | 1 (4) |
| Sjögren’s disease | 16 (5) | 0 (0) |
| Systemic sclerosis | 7 (2) | 0 (0) |
| Mixed connective tissue disease | 2 (0.6) | 0 (0) |
| Other rheumatic diseases | 17 (5) | 1 (4) |
| Disease activity—mean (SD) | ||
| RAPID-3 score | 11 (7) | 13 (6) |
| BASDAI | 4 (2.1) | 5 (1.9) |
| Immunosuppressive medication*—no. (%) | ||
| No immunosuppressive medication | 68 (21) | 5 (22) |
| csDMARDs | 176 (54) | 11 (48) |
| Methotrexate | 129 (40) | 8 (35) |
| Hydroxychloroquine | 48 (15) | 1 (4) |
| Sulfasalazine | 22 (7) | 1 (4) |
| bDMARDs | 121 (37) | 8 (35) |
| TNF inhibitor | 101 (31) | 4 (17) |
| Tocilizumab | 5 (2) | 0 (0) |
| Abatacept | 7 (2) | 0 (0) |
| B-cell targeting therapy | 4 (1) | 3 (13) |
| JAK inhibitor | 2 (0.6) | 0 (0) |
| Oral glucocorticoids | 38 (12) | 4 (17) |
| Dose—median (IQR) | 6 (5–13) | 5 (5–5) |
Data are mean (SD), median (IQR) or n (%).
*Immunosuppressive treatment at the time of SARS-CoV-2 infection. When the infection date was unknown due to lack of a PCR test result, medication use at baseline was used.
BASDAI, Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index; bDMARDs, biological DMARDs; csDMARDs, conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs; JAK, janus kinase; RAPID-3, Routine Assessment of Patient Index Data-3; TNF, tumour necrosis factor.