As per a study published in ‘BMC- Arthritis Research & Therapy’ in recent days, the use of immunomodulatory medications was found to be safe during the COVID-19 pandemic in rheumatoid arthritis patients. On the other hand, glucocorticoids at low-dose (particularly at > 2.5 mg everyday) may increase the chances of infection.

This study by Ennio Giulio Favalli et al. explored the impact of glucocorticoids and immunosuppressive agents in a large population of 2050 patients with chronic immune-mediated inflammatory arthritis.

A cross-sectional survey helped to investigate the frequency of SARS-CoV-2 nasopharyngeal swab positivity and incidence of acute respiratory illness. This survey was performed either face-to-face or by phone in consecutive patients. Keeping in view the WHO criteria, the COVID-19 cases were identified as confirmed or highly suspicious. Medication effect on COVID-19 development was examined.

Out of the total study population, 23 patients (1.1%) and 29 patients (1.4%) reported laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 and highly suspicious infection. Patients on glucocorticoids and targeted-synthetic/biological (ts/b) disease-modifying drugs (DMARDs) were independently linked with increased and decreased risk of COVID-19, respectively. There were no independent effects of age, gender, csDMARDs, and comorbidities.