Low incidence of COVID-19 in people with rheumatic disease on biologic therapy

Published November 25, 2020

COVID-19, biologic therapy, rheumatoid arthritis covid, psoriatic arthritis, inflammatory arthritis, coronavirus, pandemic

The incidence of COVID-19 was low in people with rheumatic diseases who were being treated with biologic therapies, experts reported at an international conference.

A research group reviewed published studies about COVID-19 outcomes in patients with rheumatic disease, analysing data from over 6,000 people.

Key findings

Only 2% of patients were found to be positive or highly suspicious for COVID-19; 68% of patients with COVID-19 were prescribed biologics, with 31% receiving anti-TNF drugs and 6% receiving JAK inhibitors.
In patients who were infected with COVID-19, 73% were never hospitalised.
Among those hospitalised, 13 patients required admission to an ICU and four patients died.

“The overall findings of this study are reassuring,” says Dr Akhil Sood. “The risk of COVID-19 among patients with rheumatic disease was low and biologics did not appear to increase the risk of COVID-19 infection.”

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