Increased Risk of COVID-19 in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis: A General Population-Based Cohort Study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are at an increased risk of acquiring infections owing to immunologic dysfunction and use of potent immunomodulatory medications; however, few data are available on their risk of COVID-19. We estimated the rate of COVID-19 among RA participants and compared it with that of the general population.

Methods

Using the Health Improvement Network, we identified RA patients before February 2020 and followed them to September 2020. We calculated the rate of COVID-19 among participants with RA and compared it with that of the general population using a Cox proportional hazards model, adjusting for potential confounders using overlap weighting of exposure score. We repeated the same analysis among participants with osteoarthritis, a no

SUBMITTER: Wang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9011857 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature