Does the use of corticosteroids and immunosuppressants increase the risk of COVID-19 infection among people with systemic lupus erythematosus?

ObjectiveAn important clinical question is whether the use of immunosuppressants or corticosteroids increases the risk of incident COVID-19 disease among patients with SLE. To address this question, we examined the incidence of COVID-19 infection in a large SLE cohort.MethodsThis study was based on...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Lupus science & medicine 2023-10, Vol.10 (2), p.e000961
Main Authors: Magder, Laurence S, Fava, Andrea, Goldman, Daniel, Petri, Michelle A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adrenal Cortex Hormones - adverse effects
COVID-19
COVID-19 - epidemiology
COVID-19 vaccines
Epidemics
epidemiology
Epidemiology and Outcomes
glucocorticoids
Hematology
Humans
Immunization
Immunology
Immunosuppressive agents
Immunosuppressive Agents - adverse effects
Infections
Lupus
lupus erythematosus, systemic
Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic - complications
Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic - drug therapy
Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic - epidemiology
Pandemics
Patients
Prednisone - adverse effects
Risk Factors
Steroids
vaccination
Variables
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Summary:ObjectiveAn important clinical question is whether the use of immunosuppressants or corticosteroids increases the risk of incident COVID-19 disease among patients with SLE. To address this question, we examined the incidence of COVID-19 infection in a large SLE cohort.MethodsThis study was based on a single-centre cohort of patients with SLE seen quarterly from March 2020 to August 2022. Clinical information from these visits was augmented with information on COVID-19 infections and vaccinations obtained from the electronic medical records and by patient self-report. We compared treated and untreated patients with respect to the incidence of COVID-19 infection per person month. Statistical significance was assessed based on logistic regression models.ResultsWe observed 339 incident cases of COVID-19 experienced over 24 614 person-months of follow-up from 1052 different patients. The risk of infection per person-month of follow-up was similar among those not on prednisone (1.37%), on moderate doses of prednisone (
ISSN:2053-8790
2053-8790
DOI:10.1136/lupus-2023-000961