Abstract

Background: While tofacitinib are important for controlling rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity, their influence on SARS-CoV-2 infected in people with RA remains unclear. This uncertainty has led to anxiety, social isolation due to shielding practices and tofacitinib discontinuation, which may contribute to RA flares. The goal of this study is to assess the safety of tofacitinib in patients with RA who also have concurrent coronavirus disease-19(COVID-19) infection. Objectives: To characterize the clinical outcomes of tofacitinib with the COVID-19 severity in rheumatoid arthritis, and to investigate the safety of using tofacitinib in patients with RA)during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We designed a retrospective monocentric prevalence study, recording the personal and clinical data of RA patients who received Tofacitinib and their cohabitants, with focus on the presentation of signs and symptoms related to COVID-19. The statistical methods were used for comparative analysis. Results: The study enrolled a total of 115 RA patients and 236 cohabitants, 83(72.2%) RA patients and 179(75.8%) cohabiters had been infected or high suspicion infected with SARS-COV-2, and the difference was not statistically significant. Compared with their cohabitating, Tofacitinib users had a lower incidence of fever(p=0.002) and cough(p=0.015), and lower maximum body temperatures(p<0.001). In COVID-19 cases, RA patients tend to stop Tofacitinib from the first day of symptom onset, but withdraw of Tofacitinib does not affect the RA progressive and COVID-19 hospital admission rate. Conclusion: RA patients using Tofacitinib did not increase the susceptibility to COVID-19, and could partly reduce the COVID-19 symptoms. Continued use of tofacitinib during COVID-19 infection does not increase the incidence of COVID-19 symptoms or hospitalization rates, and may even alleviate them to some extent. REFERENCES: NIL. Acknowledgements: NIL. Disclosure of Interests: None declared.