COVID-19 and rheumatic autoimmune systemic diseases: report of a large Italian patients series
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
COVID-19 and rheumatic autoimmune systemic diseases: report of a large Italian patients series Clodoveo Ferri 1,2 & Dilia Giuggioli 1 & Vincenzo Raimondo 2 & Massimo L’Andolina 3 & Antonio Tavoni 4 & Riccardo Cecchetti 5 & Serena Guiducci 6 & Francesco Ursini 7 & Maurizio Caminiti 8 & Giuseppe Varcasia 9 & Pietro Gigliotti 10 & Roberta Pellegrini 11 & Domenico Olivo 12 & Michele Colaci 13 & Giuseppe Murdaca 14 & Raffaele Brittelli 2 & Giuseppa Pagano Mariano 8 & Amelia Spinella 1 & Silvia Bellando-Randone 6 & Vincenzo Aiello 2 & Silvia Bilia 4 & Daiana Giannini 4 & Tommaso Ferrari 9 & Rodolfo Caminiti 2 & Veronica Brusi 7 & Riccardo Meliconi 7 & Poupak Fallahi 15 & Alessandro Antonelli 16 & for the COVID-19 & ASD Italian Study Group Received: 26 May 2020 / Revised: 13 July 2020 / Accepted: 17 July 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Introduction Covid-19 infection poses a serious challenge for immune-compromised patients with inflammatory autoimmune systemic diseases. We investigated the clinical-epidemiological findings of 1641 autoimmune systemic disease Italian patients during the Covid-19 pandemic. Method This observational multicenter study included 1641 unselected patients with autoimmune systemic diseases from three Italian geographical areas with different prevalence of Covid-19 [high in north (Emilia Romagna), medium in central (Tuscany), and low in south (Calabria)] by means of telephone 6-week survey. Covid-19 was classified as (1) definite diagnosis of Covid-19 disease: presence of symptomatic Covid-19 infection, confirmed by positive oral/nasopharyngeal swabs; (2) highly suspected Covid-19 disease: presence of highly suggestive symptoms, in absence of a swab test. Results A significantly higher prevalence of patients with definite diagnosis of Covid-19 disease, or with highly suspected Covid19 disease, or both the conditions together, was observed in the whole autoimmune systemic disease series, compared to “Italian general population” (p = .030, p = .001, p = .000, respectively); and for definite + highly suspected diagnosis of Covid-19 disease, in patients with autoimmune systemic diseases of the three regions (p = .000, for all comparisons with the respective regional general population). Moreover, significantly higher prevalence of definite + highly suspected diagnosis of Covid-19 disease was found either in patients with various “connective tissue diseases” compared to “inflammatory arthritis group” (p < .000), or in * Alessandro Antonelli [email protected]
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UOD Reumatologia, Grande Ospedale Metropolitano, Reggio Calabria, Italy
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U.O.S. Reumatologia, Ospedale Castrovillari, Cosenza, Italy
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U.O.T. Specialistica Ambulatoriale ASP 201, Cosenza, Italy
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Rheumatology Unit, School of Medicine, University of Modena & RE, Modena, Italy
U.O.C. Medicina Interna “M.Valentini” P.O. Annunziata, Cosenza, Italy
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Rheumatology Clinic ‘Madonna dello Scoglio’ Cotronei, Crotone, Italy
Rheumatology Outpatient Clinic, San Giovanni di Dio Hospital, Crotone, Italy
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