%0 Journal Article %T Effects of Biologic Therapies on the Chance of COVID-19 Infection Among Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus Patients During the First Wave of the Pandemic %J The Archives of Bone and Joint Surgery %I Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Iranian Society of Knee Surgery, Arthroscopy and Sports Tramatology,Iranian Orthopaedic Association %Z 2345-4644 %A Sahebari, Maryam %A Mirfeizi, Zahra %A Hashemzadeh, Kamila %A Salavati Nik, Ensie %A Gholampoor Shamkani, Negar %D 2022 %\ 11/01/2022 %V 10 %N 11 %P 946-968 %! Effects of Biologic Therapies on the Chance of COVID-19 Infection Among Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus Patients During the First Wave of the Pandemic %K Anti-TNFs %K biological DMARDs %K COVID-19 %K Adalimumab %K Infliximab %K Rituximab %K Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) %K Systemic Lupus Erythematous (SLE) %K Altebrel %K CinnoRA %R 10.22038/abjs.2022.60064.2959 %X risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Despite the effectiveness of usingcombined conventional and biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs(bDMARDs) in managing rheumaticdiseases, there have been concerns that taking biological agents may have an additive effect on getting infected withCOVID-19. This study evaluates the impact of taking biological agents on altering the chance of getting infected withSARS-CoV-2 in rheumatoloid and lupus patients compared to traditional DMARDs.Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional survey study from February 2020 to January 2021 on patients diagnosedwith lupus and rheumatid arthritis. COVID-19 infection was confirmed by the presence of symptoms and signs of the diseaseand para-clinical findings such as lymphopenia and elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) and positive chest CT scanor polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of COVID-19.Results: Out of 591 patients included in this study, 422 (71.4%) had rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and 169 (28.6%) hadsystemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Among them, 56 (9.5%) cases were diagnosed with COVID-19 infection. Noassociation was found between age, gender, or type of rheumatological diseases and SARS-CoV-2. There was asignificant association between COVID-19 infection and treatment with biological drugs (P-value<0.05) regardless ofthe type of rheumatologic disease. Interestingly, the analysis revealed that the type of biologic drug also altered thechance of COVID-19 infection; In fact, patients who took TNF inhibitors were significantly at a higher risk of diseasethan those taking Rituximab (P-value=0.000). Identical results were observed among RA patients (P-value<0.001),however, all 5 (3%) lupus cases treated with Rituximab infected with covid 19.Conclusion: This study develops a better understanding of the risk of immunosuppressive medications for SARSCoV-2 infection. Patients treated with conventional and biological medicine had a higher disease risk than those takingexclusively conventional drugs. However, more studies are required to deliberate the relation of the reviewed factorswith the severity of COVID-19.Level of evidence: II %U https://abjs.mums.ac.ir/article_21146_1d8c1a3b6214e8024f014a5b19a05c58.pdf