Outcomes in systemic sclerosis patients hospitalized with COVID-19: Insight from the National Inpatient Sample

Area of Science:

• Immunology
• Infectious Diseases
• Rheumatology

Background:

• COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) presents a spectrum of illness, from mild to severe respiratory failure.
• Systemic sclerosis is a chronic autoimmune disease associated with increased infection risk.
• Understanding COVID-19 outcomes in immunocompromised populations is critical.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare clinical outcomes and resource utilization in COVID-19 hospitalizations.
• To investigate differences between patients with and without systemic sclerosis.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the National Inpatient Sample database for 2020.
• Analyzed characteristics, morbidity, mortality, cost, and resource utilization.
• Compared COVID-19 hospitalizations with and without systemic sclerosis.

Main Results:

• 1,050,040 COVID-19 patients were analyzed; 775 (0.07%) had systemic sclerosis.
• Numerically higher rates of in-hospital mortality, vasopressor use, cardiac arrest, and acute kidney injury in the systemic sclerosis cohort.
• The composite endpoint of major adverse events was significantly higher in patients with systemic sclerosis (aOR 1.52, p=0.022).

Conclusions:

• COVID-19 patients with systemic sclerosis exhibit worse clinical outcomes.
• A higher composite endpoint of major adverse events was observed in the systemic sclerosis group.
• Further research is needed to elucidate the relationship between COVID-19 and systemic sclerosis.