• Internal medicine journal · May 2021

    Prevalence of COVID-19 and Seroprevalence to SARS-CoV-2 in a Rheumatologic Patients Population from a Tertiary Referral Clinic in Israel.

    • Tali Eviatar, Ofir Elalouf, Victoria Furer, Yael Goldstein-Lahat, Yael Paran, Sara Pel, Sharon Nevo, Michael Zisapel, Yifat Alcalay, and Ori Elkayam.
    • Rheumatology Department, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel.
    • Intern Med J. 2021 May 1; 51 (5): 682-690.

    BackgroundIt is unclear if the prevalence of COVID-19 in rheumatologic patients is similar to that of the general population. There are no reports of seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in these patients.AimsTo investigate prevalence of COVID-19 cases and seroprevalence among rheumatologic patients and the risk factors for infection.MethodsA cross-sectional study in a rheumatologic population. An online questionnaire was sent on 31 April 2020. Blood samples from 20% sample of patients were drawn for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Patients were divided based on autoimmune (AI) diagnosis. Prevalence of COVID-19 by nasopharyngeal swab and by serology (seroprevalence) was compared to national data. Risk factors for infection of SARS-CoV-2 were assessed.ResultsThe study group included 1204 patients, 74.5% had an AI diagnosis. The prevalence of COVID-19 was 0.16% in the rheumatologic patient population and 0.22% in the AI group, which was not different from prevalence in Israel on 4 May 2020 (0.18%, P = 0.912 and P = 0.759 respectively). Serologic tests were performed in 242 patients, of which five were found positive pointing to a seroprevalence of 2.07%. Exposure to a known COVID-19 patient was the only significant risk factor for being positive by swab or by serology. AI diagnosis, immunosuppression, corticosteroid, hydroxychloroquine did not influence the risk.ConclusionsThe prevalence of COVID-19 in a population of rheumatologic patients was similar to that of the general population. Mild/asymptomatic cases may be prevalent according to serologic tests. The major risk factor for infection is exposure to a known case of COVID-19, and immunosuppression did not play a role in the risk of infection.© 2021 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…

Want more great medical articles?

Keep up to date with a free trial of metajournal, personalized for your practice.
1,694,794 articles already indexed!

We guarantee your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.