COVID-19 in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis: frequency and severity

Oksana Boyarchuk; Lilya Predyk; Iryna Yuryk

doi:10.5114/reum.2021.107590

COVID-19 in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis: frequency and severity

Reumatologia. 2021;59(3):197-199. doi: 10.5114/reum.2021.107590. Epub 2021 Jul 11.

Authors

Oksana Boyarchuk¹, Lilya Predyk¹, Iryna Yuryk²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Children's Diseases and Pediatric Surgery, I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, Ternopil, Ukraine.
² Regional Children's Hospital, Ternopil, Ukraine.

Abstract

The aim of the study was to determine the frequency and the course of COVID-19 infection in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). The study involved 51 patients with JIA aged 2 to 18 years. Evidence of COVID-19 was found in 10 (19.6%) patients with JIA. COVID-19 infection occurred more often in patients with systemic arthritis (OR = 6.1667, 95% CI: 1.2053-31.5511, p = 0.0289). The course of COVID-19 infection in patients with JIA was generally similar to the course in the pediatric population, despite immunosuppressive therapy. In 3 out of 10 patients the infection caused an exacerbation of JIA, which required therapy escalation.

Keywords: COVID-19 infection; immunosuppressive therapy; juvenile idiopathic arthritis.