Medical Insider – Dr. Cora E. Lim
Increasing autoimmune rheumatic diseases as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic: A hypothesis or fact?
(Part 1)
The consequences of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), will have a lasting effect on the health of the global population. This disease will most likely be viewed as a plague of the 21st century.
The true toll of the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult to estimate due to its immediate and delayed consequences.
Reportedly, about 700 mLn people worldwide have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 and about 7 mLn of them have died due to COVID-19 (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/).
In the immediate post-pandemic period, the global upsurge of autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARDs) has been observed among COVID-19 survivors and those exposed to COVID-19 vaccinations. The main stream rheumatology sources including the International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases (IJRD) have taken the lead in discussing and clarifying plausible associations between COVID-19 and autoimmunity,
Importantly, this year’s Annual European Congress of rheumatology arranged a special session titled “Can COVID-19 induce autoimmunity and rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases?” (EULAR 2023 Debate, June 2023).
The latest editorial in IJRD has uncovered the association of COVID-19 with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and referred to our study of definite RA after exposure to SARS-CoV-2. (To be continued)