2.1 Data sources and search strategy
We searched for relevant studies published from inception to
March 20, 2023, on CBM, CNKI, China
Science and Technology Journal Database, WanFang Data, PubMed, Embase,
Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Medline, with no restrictions on
publication language or primary outcome. The articles were retrieved
using a combination of subject terms and free words. The relevant papers
were identified using Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms:
“COVID-19” and related free words. To conduct subgroup analyses with
each diagnosis, we also used the MeSH terms for each specific disease,
including “ARDs”, “Arthritis, Rheumatoid”, “Lupus Erythematosus,
Systemic”, “Sjogren’s Syndrome”, “Antiphospholipid Syndrome”,
“Spondylitis, Ankylosing”, “Arthritis, Psoriatic”, “Vasculitis”,
“Gout”, “Connective Tissue Diseases”, “Scleroderma, Systemic”. In
addition, we manually searched the reference lists of published
systematic reviews and original articles. The search strategy were
described in Supplementary Material p1.