3.2 Prevalence of COVID-19 in autoimmune rheumatic diseases
A meta-analysis of 68 observational studies, including 384582 patients
with ARDs, showed that the prevalence of COVID-19 was
0.061(95%CI:0.056-0.066)(Figure 2).
In the subgroup analyses, the
prevalences of COVID-19 in RA,
systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE), ankylosing spondylitis(AS),
connective tissue disease(CTD) and
psoriatic arthritis(PsA) were 0.028(95%CI:0.019-0.037),
0.047(95%CI:0.033-0.061), 0.074(95%CI:0.039-0.108),
0.058(95%CI:0.046-0.070) and 0.194(95%CI:0.090-0.297), respectively RA
patients had the lowest prevalence, and PsA patients had the highest.
The prevalence of COVID-19 in vasculitis and systemic sclerosis(SSc) was
not statistically significant(Figure p3). Heterogeneity was considerable
overall(I2=99.5%), and in most subgroup analyses,
primarily due to the use of drugs for different diseases and differences
in study sizes.