Ljudmila Stojanovich^1,2, Aleksandra Djokovic^2,3, Natasa Stanisavljevic^2,4*, Dusan Saponjski^2,5 and Jovica Saponjski^2,6

¹Special Hospital “Dr Zutic”, Serbia
²University of Belgrade, Faculty of Medicine, Belgrade, Serbia
³Department of Cardiology, Division of Interventional Cardiology, University Hospital Medical Center Bezanijska Kosa, Belgrade, Serbia
⁴Department of Hematology, University Hospital Medical Center Bezanijska Kosa, Belgrade, Serbia
⁵Center of Radiology and MR, University Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia
⁶Clinic of Cardiology, University Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia

*Corresponding Author: Natasa Stanisavljevic, Department of Hematology, University Hospital Center Bezanijska Kosa, Belgrade, Serbia.

Received: April 19, 2022; Published: June 14, 2022

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic raised many concerns regarding patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARD) namely considering the potentially harmful effects of this infectious disease as well as the consequences of the immunosuppressant therapy applied.

Aim: To evaluate the presentations and outcome of COVID-19 in various ARD in stable conditions.

Methods: This is a consecutive clinical series study of 18 outpatient ARD patients (eight systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), two SLE associated with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), one patient with primary APS, five with rheumatoid arthritis, one with polymyalgia rheumatica, and one with Still syndrome), who was diagnosed with COVID-19. Data were collected between May 2020 and February 2021, during scheduled visits at a non-covid center, where patients were monitored regularly. We analyzed the presence of the following clinical symptoms: persistent fever higher than 37·5°C, non-productive cough, fatigue, myalgias, arthralgias, anosmia, ageusia, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and dyspnea. The onset date and duration of these symptoms, prescribed medications, and management of background medications were also evaluated.

Results: In this case series of ARD patients in a stable disease condition, nine patients were treated with prednisolone, nine patients with hydroxychloroquine, six patients were on Aspirin, and five on methotrexate. None of the patients had interstitial pneumonia, clinical manifestations of COVID-19 were mild, and none were hospitalized. Less than half of the patients (8 of them) had a fever. All patients in a post-covid period were feeling well, without thrombotic complications.

Conclusion: All ARD patients analyzed, presented in a stable disease condition, had been diagnosed with a mild form of COVID-19, not requiring hospitalization. The stable disease condition might be the most important prognostic factor regarding the severity of COVID-19 and its prognosis in this population of patients.

Keywords: COVID-19; Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases

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Citation

Citation: Natasa Stanisavljevic., et al. “The Outcomes of COVID-19 Infection in Rheumatic Diseases in Stable Disease Condition: A Case Series Study”.Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 6.7 (2022): 153-159.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 Natasa Stanisavljevic., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.