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Correspondence to ‘Risk factors for hospital admissions related to COVID-19 in patients with autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases’

2020; BMJ; Volume: 82; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-218997

1468-2060

Hendrik Schulze‐Koops, Alla Skapenko, Andreas Krause, Klaus Krueger, Hanns-Martin Lorenz, Philipp Sewerin, Christof Specker, Ulf Wagner, Anna Voormann, Ulf Müeller-Ladner, Reinhard Voll,

Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Research

against SARS-CoV-2, and these reports show that the absence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 is not evidence of absence of infection and that patients may perform poorly if infected during anti-cytokine therapies.In light of these considerations, any proposals that might affect the consistent and strict adherence of patients to the hygiene and prevention rules could pose an increased risk to the health of patients with IMIDs.This is underscored by the recent publication of Nuñez et al, 1 which points to a risk of more severe COVID-19 in patients with IRDs.Although it is possible that certain cytokine inhibitors may have a positive effect in the prevention of severe COVID-19 in SARS-CoV-2 infected patients, depending on the time of application, type of therapy and various other factors, 21 we suggest that statements regarding the protective effect of cytokine inhibitors against infection with SARS-CoV-2 should be made with extreme caution.Until more definite data are available, patients with IMIDs are well advised to follow the guidelines of the professional societies, that is, to continue to take their anti-inflammatory drugs unless exposure to SARS-CoV-2 has occurred and/or clinical signs suggesting COVID-19, but also to strictly follow hygiene and distance measures to avoid infection with SARS-CoV-2.