What comes after the lockdown? Clustering of ANCA-associated vasculitis: single-centre observation of a spatiotemporal pattern

Response to: ‘Correspondence on ‘What comes after the lockdown? Clustering of ANCA-associated vasculitis: single-centre observation of a spatiotemporal pattern’’ by Hakroush and Tampe

“…In our previous report on anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) during current COVID-19 pandemic, we described our observation of both an incidenceshift with a post-lockdown clustering and an increased incidence rate of AAV diagnoses between February and August 2020 compared with previous years. 1 In correspondence to our article, Hakroush et al observed a similar incidence-shift with a post-lockdown increase of AAV diagnoses at their centre. This shift affected patients with less severe symptoms but not critically ill patients requiring intensivecare or intermediate-care treatment.…”

“…In contrast to the observations by Hakroush et al, our patients with new diagnosis and relapse were diagnosed either on the normal ward or in an outpatient setting. Estimation of the exact diagnostic delay in our cohort was not possible due to the retrospective nature of our study and in some patients, assessment of the medical history was impossible (ie, patients with dementia), 1 but most patients complained about symptoms indicative of vasculitis 1-2 months before a diagnosis was made.…”

Correspondence on ‘What comes after the lockdown? Clustering of ANCA-associated vasculitis: single-centre observation of a spatiotemporal pattern’

“…During this period, the authors report an incidence shift with a COVID-19 gap of no diagnosed AAV cases during the lockdown period in March and April 2020, followed by a postlockdown phase in the subsequent 4 months and an increased incidence rate. 1 Diagnosis of AAV can be delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic because non-urgent tests and visits might have been postponed due to closure of medical services during the lockdown. We here report a single-centre observation in 28 patients diagnosed AAV with kidney involvement requiring renal biopsy in 2019 and 2020 (until 16th of December).…”

Response to: ‘Correspondence on ‘What comes after the lockdown? Clustering of ANCA-associated vasculitis: single-centre observation of a spatiotemporal pattern’’ by Hocevaret al

“…Clustering of ANCAassociated vasculitis: single-centre observation of a spatiotemporal pattern'' by Hocevar et al In our previous report on antineutrophil cytoplasm antibodies (ANCA)-associated vasculitides (AAV) during the current COVID-19 pandemic, we described our observation of both an incidence-shift with a post-lockdown clustering and an increased incidence rate of AAV diagnoses between February and August 2020 compared with previous years. 1 In correspondence to our article, Hocevar et al report how COVID-19 pandemic affected management of patients with vasculitides at their centre. The in-depth analysis examined symptom duration (ie, time eclipsed to final diagnosis), disease activity/severity and seasonal changes of patients presenting with giant cell arteritis, and IgA vasculitis and AAV during 2020 and in the previous decade.…”