Clinical course, severity and mortality in a cohort of patients with COVID-19 with rheumatic diseases

The recent outbreak caused by a novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread rapidly worldwide, and it has been declared a pandemic by the WHO.1 Elder people, male sex and some underlying comorbidities seem to be risk factors for morbidity and mortality, although an immunosuppressive status could favour the infection and the development of complications.2 However, as progress is made in the knowledge of the physiopathology of COVID-19, it has been observed that severe respiratory forms occur as a result of an hyperinflammatory status and an excessive production of cytokines.3 In this descriptive retrospective study, we aimed to characterise features related to severity and mortality in these patients and the influence of immune modulating drugs on the course of the infection. Patients were included from 25 February 2020 to 8 June 2020 with COVID-19 infection and rheumatic inflammatory diseases from Rheumatology Department of La Paz University Hospital. One hundred and twenty-two patients were included. One hundred (82.0%) were confirmed through nasopharyngeal swabs. Twenty-two patients (18.0%) exhibited compatible symptoms with compatible lung imaging and/or positive serology. Patients characteristics are shown in …