Background/Purpose: SARS-CoV-2 infection is caused by a new coronavirus. The World Health Organization (WHO) had information about the existence of this new virus on December 31, 2019 in Wuhan, China. Common symptoms are fever, cough, dyspnea, and fatigue 1. There is a lack of data to understand the evolution of the disease in patients with inflammatory rheumatological diseases, especially in those undergoing treatment with immunosuppressants or biological therapy 2. It is unknown whether rheumatology patients are a vulnerable population. 3 Overall, this population appears to have similar or only slightly worse outcomes compared to those without rheumatologic disease. 4,5,6

Methods: Observational, prospective, longitudinal study. Personal and telephone interviews were conducted with patients from the rheumatology service from June 2020 to February 2021. Inclusion criteria: 1) > 18 years of age, 2) History of SARS-CoV2 infection diagnosed by PCR and / or compatible CT, 3) Diagnosis of a rheumatological pathology based on classification criteria. Data were analyzed with SPSS V23.

Results: Of 4,416 consultations, 3,633 met the classification criteria for inflammatory rheumatological disease and 2,040 were in biological treatment. 44 patients met the inclusion criteria. Diagnosis by CoV-2 by PCR 38 and 6 by compatible chest CT. 35 female. The average age 55.3 +17.8 years. Mean time of illness was 7.9 +5.3 years. Rheumatological diagnoses: Rheumatoid arthritis 47.72% (21), Systemic lupus erythematosus 21.95% (9), Axial spondyloarthritis 12.19% (5), Psoriatic arthritis 9.75% (4), Reactive arthritis 5.88% (2), Juvenile idiopathic arthritis 2.94% ( 1), Adult Still’s disease 2.94% (1), Sjögren’s syndrome 2.94% (1). Biological treatment in 61.36% (27): Anti-TNF 40.74% (11), Tocilizumab 33.33% (9), anti-IL12 / 23 14.81% (4), Tofacitinib 7.40% (2), anti CD20 3.70% (1). Treatment with csDMARD 38.63% (17), glucocorticoids 9 with a mean dose of 5mg. Comorbidities: 29.54% (13) hypertensive, 15.9% (7) diabetic, 2.27% (1) interstitial lung disease, 2.27% (1) asthma, 6.81% (3) obese. There was one hospitalization and one death during the study period in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Conclusion: Our study showed that there is no increased risk of Sars-CoV2 infection or increased severity of the disease in patients with rheumatological inflammatory pathology compared to the general population.

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/prevalence-of-sars-cov2-infection-in-diseases-inflammatory-rheumatology-in-the-rheumatology-service-of-the-hospital-docente-padre-billini-dominican-republic/