Clinical features of patients with rheumatic diseases and COVID-19 infection in Sarawak, Malaysia

• Main Authors: Sharifah Aishah, Wan, Cheng, Lay Teh, Benjamin Sachdev, Manjit Singh, Yaw, Kiet Cheong, Seow, Lin Chuah, Ahmad Tirmizi, Jobli
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: BMJ 2020
• Subjects: R Medicine (General); RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/30794/1/Clinical%20features%20of%20patients%20with%20rheumatic.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/30794/; http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-218425
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

We read with great interest the article by Ye et al1 describing the clinical features and outcomes of patients with rheumatic diseases and COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. It concluded that length of hospital stay and mortality were similar between patients with rheumatic diseases and non-rheumatic groups, while respiratory failure was more common in patients with rheumatic diseases infected with COVID-19. D’Silva et al2 and Zhao et al3 subsequently highlighted the differences of clinical severity and outcomes in their respective cohorts of patients with rheumatic diseases and COVID-19. Fredi et al4 presented data from northern Italy which supported an association of elderly age and the presence of comorbidities with a poor outcome of COVID-19 infection, rather than the type of rheumatic disease or background medications. The Global Rheumatology Alliance5has recently published data of characteristics associated with hospitalisation for COVID-19 among patients with rheumatic diseases. We would like to share the clinical course of COVID-19 among patients with rheumatic diseases in Sarawak.