Baseline use of hydroxychloroquine or immunosuppressive drugs and the risk of coronavirus disease 2019

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Abstract

Background/Aims: The preventive role of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of HCQ and other immunosuppressive drugs on the incidence of COVID-19. Methods: The data were collected from the South Korea National Health Insurance Sharing-COVID-19 database. All individuals who underwent nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab tests for COVID-19 from January 2020 to May 2020 are included. The association between COVID-19 risk and HCQ use was examined in a propensity score-matched population. Factors associated with COVID-19 were identified using multiple logistic regression analysis. Results: Total 8,070 patients with COVID-19 and 121,050 negative controls were included from the database. Among all participants, 381 were HCQ users. In a propensity score-matched population, the incidence of COVID-19 was 7.1% in HCQ users and 6.8% in non-users. The odds ratio (OR) for HCQ use was 1.05 with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 0.58 to 1.89. Among the subpopulation of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 33 were diagnosed with COVID-19 and 478 were not. Use of HCQ, glucocorticoids, or other immunosuppressive drugs was not associated with COVID-19 risk, whereas abatacept use was. Chronic lung disease was an independent risk factor for COVID-19 diagnosis in patients with RA (adjusted OR, 6.07; 95% CI, 1.10 to 33.59). Conclusions: The risk of COVID-19 did not differ between HCQ users and non-users. Glucocorticoids, conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), and biological DMARDs other than abatacept did not increase the risk of COVID-19.

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APA

Kim, J. W., Kwak, S. G., Lee, H., Kim, S. K., Choe, J. Y., & Park, S. H. (2022). Baseline use of hydroxychloroquine or immunosuppressive drugs and the risk of coronavirus disease 2019. Korean Journal of Internal Medicine, 37(3), 673–680. https://doi.org/10.3904/kjim.2020.633

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