Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Pamukkale Medical Journal, cilt.16, sa.3, ss.404-411, 2023 (Scopus)
Purpose: The severe course of COVID-19 in individuals with chronic diseases has led to concerns in managing rheumatic diseases during the pandemic; therefore, we aimed to define the factors associated with the frequency and severity of COVID-19 in patients with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpa) in this study. Materials and methods: Patients with axSpa who were followed up in three tertiary hospitals and used their treatment regularly for at least six months were included. We assessed the relationship between axSpa-associated variables such as disease duration time, radiological severity, treatment and COVID-19 outcomes. Results: A total of 833 patients with a mean disease duration of 109 months were analyzed; 64.5% of them had ankylosing spondylitis, 35.5% had non-radiographic axSpa, and 59.4% of patients were treated with a biologic agent. The frequency of COVID-19 was 23% (n:192); only five patients (0.5%) had a history of intensive care unit. Advanced age, hypertension (HT), and diabetes mellitus (DM) were found to be significantly more common in those with involvement in high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) (p:0.02, p:0.01, and p<0.001). In hospitalized individuals, female gender, HT, DM, and disease lasting longer than 10 years were significantly higher (p:0.03, p:0.011, p<0.001, and p:0.014). Only DM was found as an independent risk factor for both pulmonary involvement in HRCT (p:0.029) and hospitalization (p:0.001). Conclusion: We conducted our study with a homogenous study population and our results suggested that biological agents did not affect poor COVID-19 outcomes; only DM was associated with a more severe COVID-19 course in patients with axSpa.