COVID‐19 and reported mortality cases among rheumatic disease patients in Kuwait: Data from the Global Rheumatology Alliance registry

Abstract

Mycophenolate mofetil and rituximab have been shown to be considerably associated with poorer outcomes following SARS‐CoV‐2 infection. Such agents were associated with longer hospital stay as well as severe COVID‐19 outcomes (infection‐related complications, intensive care unit admission, and mortality). Using the data of the COVID‐19 Global Rheumatology Alliance (GRA) registry of inflammatory rheumatic disease (IRD) patients in Kuwait, who had COVID‐19 from March 2020 to March 2021, revealed 4 mortality cases (3 cases used CD‐20 inhibitors as monotherapy and 1 case used mycophenolate mofetil/mycophenolic acid as monotherapy). This article describes the characteristics and course of disease among 4 patients with IRD who died following COVID‐19 infection at Jaber Al Ahmed Hospital, Kuwait. The current series raises the intriguing prospect that IRD patients may have a varying risk of unfavorable clinical outcomes depending on the type of biological agents they were given. Rituximab and mycophenolate mofetil should be used with caution in IRD patients, particularly if they have concomitant comorbidities that put them at a high likelihood of developing severe COVID‐19 outcomes.