Clinical characteristics of Chilean patients with rheumatic diseases and COVID-19: data from the Covid-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance physician-reported registry

Objective

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2), has registered more than 234 million confirmed cases and more than 4.7 million deaths throughout the world until October 2, 2021. During the last few months, a significant number of reports of COVID-19 in patients with rheumatic diseases have been published. In this study the objective is to report the clinical characteristics of Chilean patients with rheumatic diseases and COVID-19 reported in the “Global Rheumatology Alliance” (GRA) physician registration platform.

Methods

Chilean patients with rheumatic diseases and COVID-19 were included in the Covid-19 GRA physician-reported registry.

Results

54 patients were included. The most common primary rheumatic disease was rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with 28 cases (51.9%). 30 patients (55.6%) used corticosteroids, of which 20 (66.7%) used a dose of 10 mg or less. 33 patients (61.1%) only used conventional DMARDs, 4 (7.4%) only biological, and 6 (11.1%) the combination. A total of 35 patients (64.8%) had to be hospitalized. 2 patients (3.7%) died. 26 patients of the 35 hospitalized (74.2%) required some type of ventilatory support, of which 5 (19.2%) required non-invasive and 8 (30.8%) invasive mechanical ventilation or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

Discussion

Most of included Chilean rheumatic patients were hospitalized, with a low mortality rate but with a high percentage of patients requiring at least non-invasive mechanical ventilation.

Key Points

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  The most common primary rheumatic disease was rheumatoid arthritis (RA) followed by lupus (LES)

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  Most of the included Chilean rheumatic patients were hospitalized, with a high percentage of patients requiring at least non-invasive mechanical ventilation, but with a low mortality rate.

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  Worsening of arthralgias or activation of the rheumatic disease was not reported.