Post discharge persistent symptoms after COVID-19 in rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases

OBJECTIVES: To describe persistent symptoms and consequences in Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal diseases (RMD) discharged from the hospital after Covid-19; to assess the roll of autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARD) compared to and non-autoimmune rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (NARD) on persistent symptoms and consequences. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional observational study. RMD attended at a rheumatology outpatient clinic in Madrid with Covid-19 that required hospital admission were included. The main outcomes were persistence of symptoms and health consequences related to Covid19 after discharge. Independent variable was RMD group (ARD and NARD) and covariates were sociodemographic, clinical, and treatments. We ran a multivariable logistic regression model to assess the risk by RMD group on main outcomes. RESULTS: We included 105 patients and 51.5% had ARD. 68.57% reported at least one persistent symptom. The most frequent were dyspnea, fatigue, and chest pain. 31 patients had consequences. Lung damage was found in 11.4% of the patients, 18% had blood test abnormalities (10% lymphopenia), two died, one developed central retinal vein occlusion and one patient developed optic neuritis. 11 patients required readmission due to Covid-19 problems (16.7% ARD vs 3.9% NARD; p=0.053). No statistically significant differences by RMD groups were found in the final models. CONCLUSION: Many RMD patients have persistent symptoms, similar to other populations. This study also highlights that lung damage is the most frequent consequence. ARD compared to NARD does not seem to differ in terms of persistent symptoms or consequences, although ARD might have a greater number of readmissions due to Covid-19.