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Background. The pandemic situation of the novel coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)) and its associated disease (coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)) represents a challenging condition with a plethora of aspects. The course of COVID-19 in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMID) such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and rheumatic diseases (RD) is not well known. Our study is one step toward closing this gap by collecting data on vaccination rates, infection-free survival, and individual symptom severity. Methods. We conducted a prospective questionnaire-based study between April 2022 and October 2022 at our university hospital. Outward patients over the age of 18 years were screened for participation and reported about their infection/infection-free survival since the start of the pandemic. Results. Finally, 156 patients were included in the study, 117 (75.0%) of which had inflammatory bowel disease and 39 (25.0%) patients with rheumatic disease. Altogether, 143 (91.7%) persons had received at least one vaccination against SARS-CoV-2. A total of 153 patients provided information regarding their COVID-19 history: 81 patients (52.0%) self-reported about their SARS-CoV-2 infection. In general, courses of infection were mild: only two patients (2.5% of patients with reported COVID-19) were hospitalized due to COVID-19 with one (1.2%) of the two needing intensive care. Asymptomatic COVID-19 had been described by 7 persons (8.6% of patients with reported COVID-19). Acute COVID-19 was accompanied by fatigue/tiredness in 58 persons (71.6% of patients with history of COVID-19) as the most frequent symptom. Other complaints were common cold (55 patients = 67.9%), cough (51 patients = 63.0%), headache (44 patients = 54.3%), and fever (35 patients = 43.2%). Stratified by vaccination status (unvaccinated vs. at least once vaccinated), the time to infection differed significantly (logrank test: p = 0.04 , Chi2 4.1). At least once vaccinated people had a median COVID-19-free survival of 28.5 months (confidence interval (CI): 23.6 months-not reached). Without any vaccination, the estimated time to infection was 25.1 months (CI: 23.6 months-not reached). Conclusion. Our IMID patients have a high rate of vaccination against SARS-CoV-2. Data show a significantly longer infection-free survival in vaccinated IMID patients as compared to unvaccinated patients. Discrimination between symptoms of COVID-19 and a concomitant inflammatory disease is difficult as complaints might be overlapping. This trial is registered with DRKS00028880. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Urinary ethyl glucuronide (EtG) has emerged as the biomarker of choice for alcohol abstinence monitoring in forensic toxicology and is now used in the listing decision process for liver transplantations (LTs) in the German transplant program. However, EtG analysis in this patient group is challenging due to severely impaired liver function, renal failure, co-morbidities and multidrug regimens. The aim of our study was to evaluate liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)-based EtG analysis for a precise abstinence monitoring in transplant candidates. Methods: EtG and ethyl sulfate (EtS) were analyzed by a commercial LC-MS/MS assay in 1787 spot urine samples of 807 patients (>85% from the Department of Hepatology) using a combination of quantifier and two qualifier mass transitions for each analyte. Influences of bacterial contamination, kidney and liver function were investigated. Results: Two hundred and sixty-four urine samples had elevated (≥0.5 mg/L) EtG concentrations when only analyzing one quantifier mass transition. Eleven results (4.2%) were found to be false positive after combining three mass transitions for EtG quantification and verification with parallel analysis of EtS. Decreased kidney function was associated with a significantly higher rate of positive EtG samples. One of the false positive results was caused by bacterial metabolism. Conclusions: Multimorbid pre-transplant patients have a high risk of individual analytical disturbances of EtG results obtained by LC-MS/MS. Therefore, EtG and EtS should always be measured by a combination of one quantifier and two qualifiers each and evaluated together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]