Risk factors for COVID‐19 and rheumatic disease flare in a US cohort of Latino patients

Fike, Alice; Hartman, Julia; Redmond, Christopher; Williams, Sandra G.; Ruiz‐Perdomo, Yanira; Chu, Jun; Hasni, Sarfaraz; Ward, Michael M.; Katz, James D.; Gourh, Pravitt

OBJECTIVES: Latino patients are overrepresented among cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) and are at an increased risk for severe disease. Prevalence of COVID‐19 in Latinos with rheumatic diseases are poorly reported. The purpose of this study was to characterize COVID‐19 clinical features and outcomes in Latino patients with rheumatic diseases. METHODS: This is a retrospective study of Latino patients with rheumatic diseases from an existing observational cohort in the Washington, DC area. Patients seen between April 1 to October 15, 2020 were analyzed in this study. We reviewed demographics, body mass index (BMI), comorbidities, and immunomodulatory therapies. An exploratory Classification and Regression Tree (CART) analysis along with logistic regression (LR) analyses were performed to identify risk factors for COVID‐19 and rheumatic disease flare. RESULTS: Out of 178 patients, 32 (18%) were identified with COVID‐19 and the incidence rate of infection was found to be three‐fold higher than the general Latino population. No patients required ICU level care. CART analysis and multivariable LR analysis identified BMI>30.35 as a risk factor for COVID‐19 [P=0.004, OR=3.37, 95%CI (1.5‐7.7)]. COVID‐19 positivity was a risk factor for rheumatic disease flare [P=0.02, OR=4.57, 95%CI (1.2‐17.4)]. CONCLUSION: Latino patients with rheumatic diseases had a higher rate of COVID‐19 compared with the general Latino population. Obesity was identified as a risk factor for COVID‐19 and COVID‐19 itself was found to be a risk factor for rheumatic disease flare. Latino patients with risk factors should be followed closely, especially post‐COVID‐19 in anticipation of disease flare.