medwireNews: Researchers outline the impact of COVID-19 in a cohort of Italian patients with large-vessel vasculitis (LVV).
A total of 95 people with giant cell arteritis (GCA) and 67 with Takayasu arteritis (TA) participated in a survey about COVID-19, none of whom reported LVV relapse. Glucocorticoids were the most common LVV treatment, used by 67% and 60% of people in the GCA and TA groups, respectively, followed by tocilizumab in the GCA group (48%) and methotrexate in the TA group (52%).
Corrado Campochiaro and colleagues from San Raffaele Hospital in Milan say that eight patients with TA and two with GCA reported having at least two COVID-19 symptoms, with two from each group receiving a confirmed diagnosis. Both GCA patients with confirmed COVID-19 were hospitalized, with one developing COVID-19 during hospitalization for iatrogenic hepatotoxicity, and the other admitted to hospital due to fever and dyspnea. Neither patient required oxygen support, and both were later discharged.
“Due to the limited number of patients included, our survey does not allow to draw definitive conclusions about the epidemiology and prognosis of COVID-19 among patients with LVV,” write Campochiaro and team in a letter to the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.
However, they point out that all patients with COVID-19 symptoms experienced full recovery, suggesting that “[b]ackground immunosuppression did not negatively impact on COVID-19 course.”
medwireNews is an independent medical news service provided by Springer Healthcare. © 2020 Springer Healthcare part of the Springer Nature Group
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