TY - JOUR
T1 - Association between Chronic Use of Immunosuppresive Drugs and Clinical Outcomes from Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Hospitalization
T2 - A Retrospective Cohort Study in a Large US Health System
AU - Andersen, Kathleen M.
AU - Mehta, Hemalkumar B.
AU - Palamuttam, Natasha
AU - Ford, Daniel
AU - Garibaldi, Brian T.
AU - Auwaerter, Paul G.
AU - Segal, Jodi
AU - Alexander, G. Caleb
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
PY - 2021/12/1
Y1 - 2021/12/1
N2 - Background: It is unclear whether chronic use of immunosuppressive drugs worsens or improves the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), with plausible mechanisms for both. Methods: Retrospective cohort study in 2121 consecutive adults with acute inpatient hospital admission between 4 March and 29 August 2020 with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 in a large academic health system, with adjustment for confounding with propensity score-derived stabilized inverse probability of treatment weights. Chronic immunosuppression was defined as prescriptions for immunosuppressive drugs current at the time of admission. Outcomes included mechanical ventilation, in-hospital mortality, and length of stay. Results: There were 2121 patients admitted with laboratory-confirmed (1967, 93%) or suspected (154, 7%) COVID-19 during the study period, with a median age of 55 years (interquartile range, 40-67). Of these, 108 (5%) were classified as immunosuppressed before COVID-19, primarily with prednisone (>7.5 mg/day), tacrolimus, or mycophenolate mofetil. Among the entire cohort, 311 (15%) received mechanical ventilation; the median (interquartile range) length of stay was 5.2 (2.5-10.6) days, and 1927 (91%) survived to discharge. After adjustment, there were no significant differences in the risk of mechanical ventilation (hazard ratio [HR],. 79; 95% confidence interval [CI],. 46-1.35), in-hospital mortality (HR,. 66; 95% CI,. 28-1.55), or length of stay (HR, 1.16; 95% CI,. 92-1.47) among individuals with immunosuppression and counterparts. Conclusions: Chronic use of immunosuppressive drugs was neither associated with worse nor better clinical outcomes among adults hospitalized with COVID-19 in one US health system.
AB - Background: It is unclear whether chronic use of immunosuppressive drugs worsens or improves the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), with plausible mechanisms for both. Methods: Retrospective cohort study in 2121 consecutive adults with acute inpatient hospital admission between 4 March and 29 August 2020 with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 in a large academic health system, with adjustment for confounding with propensity score-derived stabilized inverse probability of treatment weights. Chronic immunosuppression was defined as prescriptions for immunosuppressive drugs current at the time of admission. Outcomes included mechanical ventilation, in-hospital mortality, and length of stay. Results: There were 2121 patients admitted with laboratory-confirmed (1967, 93%) or suspected (154, 7%) COVID-19 during the study period, with a median age of 55 years (interquartile range, 40-67). Of these, 108 (5%) were classified as immunosuppressed before COVID-19, primarily with prednisone (>7.5 mg/day), tacrolimus, or mycophenolate mofetil. Among the entire cohort, 311 (15%) received mechanical ventilation; the median (interquartile range) length of stay was 5.2 (2.5-10.6) days, and 1927 (91%) survived to discharge. After adjustment, there were no significant differences in the risk of mechanical ventilation (hazard ratio [HR],. 79; 95% confidence interval [CI],. 46-1.35), in-hospital mortality (HR,. 66; 95% CI,. 28-1.55), or length of stay (HR, 1.16; 95% CI,. 92-1.47) among individuals with immunosuppression and counterparts. Conclusions: Chronic use of immunosuppressive drugs was neither associated with worse nor better clinical outcomes among adults hospitalized with COVID-19 in one US health system.
KW - COVID-19
KW - clinical outcomes
KW - immunosuppression
KW - prescription medicines
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100136685&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85100136685&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/cid/ciaa1488
DO - 10.1093/cid/ciaa1488
M3 - Article
C2 - 33410884
AN - SCOPUS:85100136685
SN - 1058-4838
VL - 73
SP - E4124-E4130
JO - Clinical Infectious Diseases
JF - Clinical Infectious Diseases
IS - 11
ER -