Increased risk seen for incident AIRD for patients with SARS-CoV-2, with higher risk seen after more severe acute COVID-19<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter<\/b><\/p>\n
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TUESDAY, March 5, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection have an increased risk for incident autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic disease (AIRD) compared with matched patients with influenza infection or uninfected controls, according to a study published online March 5 in the Annals of Internal Medicine<\/em>.<\/p>\n Min Seo Kim, M.D., from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in Boston, and colleagues examined the effect of COVID-19 on the long-term risk for incident AIRD during various follow-up periods in a binational, longitudinal study. Data were included for 10,027,506 Korean and 12,218,680 Japanese patients aged 20 years or older, including those with COVID-19 matched to patients with influenza and uninfected controls. The primary outcome was AIRD onset one, six, and 12 months after infection or matched index date.<\/p>\n Among the Korean patients, 3.9 and 0.98 percent had a history of COVID-19 or influenza, respectively, between 2020 and 2021. The researchers found that after propensity score matching, patients with COVID-19 had an increased risk for incident AIRD beyond the first 30 days after infection compared with uninfected controls and influenza-infected controls (adjusted hazard ratios, 1.25 and 1.30, respectively). With more severe acute COVID-19, the risk for incident AIRD was higher. In the Japanese cohort, similar patterns were observed.<\/p>\n “This population-based cohort study shows that the increased risk for incident AIRD extends up to 12 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection,” the authors write. “Care strategies for patients who survive COVID-19 should pay close attention to manifestations of AIRD, particularly after severe COVID-19.”<\/p>\n