• Burak İnce, Murat Bektaş, Nevzat Koca, Besim Fazıl Ağargün, Sibel Zaralı, Damla Yenersu Güzey, Ayşe İnce, Mehmet Salih Sevdi, Yasemin Yalçinkaya, Artım EsenBaharBDivision of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul University, İstanbul, Turkey., Ahmet Gül, Lale Öçal, and Murat İnanç.
• Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul University, İstanbul, Turkey.
• Turk J Med Sci. 2021 Oct 21; 51 (5): 224322472243-2247.

IntroductionCOVID-19 pandemic created concerns among patients receiving immunosuppressive therapy. Frequency of COVID-19 and impact of lockdown on treatment compliance in patients with vasculitis are largely unknown.Patients And MethodPatients with ANCA-associated and large vessel vasculitis that have been followed-up in our clinic were contacted by phone and a questionnaire containing home isolation status, treatment adherence and history of COVID -19 between March 1st and June 30th, 2020 was applied.ResultsThe survey was applied to 103 patients (F/M: 59/44, mean age: 53.2±12.5). Thirty-three (32%) patients didn?t attend at least one appointment; 98(95.1%) noted that they spent 3 months in home isolation. Five patients (4.8%) received immunosuppressives irregularly and 3(2.9%) developed symptoms due to undertreatment. Four (3.9%) patients admitted to hospital with a suspicion of COVID-19, but none of them had positive PCR or suggestive findings by imaging. COVID-19 diagnosed in a patient with granulomatosis with polyangiitis during hospitalization for disease flare and she died despite treatment.DiscussionFrequency of COVID-19 was low in patients with vasculitis in our single center cohort. Although outpatient appointments were postponed in one-third of our patients, high compliance with treatment and isolation rules ensured patients with vasculitis overcome this period with minimal morbidity and mortality.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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