Gout, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and the Risk of Death Related to Coronavirus Disease 2019: An Analysis of the UK Biobank

Topless, Ruth K.; Phipps‐Green, Amanda; Leask, Megan; Dalbeth, Nicola; Stamp, Lisa K.; Robinson, Philip C.; Merriman, Tony R.

OBJECTIVES: The objectives for this study were to assess whether gout and/or rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are risk factors for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) diagnosis and to assess whether gout and/or RA are risk factors for death from COVID‐19. METHODS: We used data from the UK Biobank. Multivariable‐adjusted logistic regression was employed in the following analyses: analysis A, to test for association between gout and/or RA and COVID‐19 diagnosis (n = 473,139); analysis B, to test for association between gout and/or RA and death from COVID‐19 in a case‐control cohort of people who died of or survived COVID‐19 (n = 2059); analysis C, to test for association between gout and/or RA and death from COVID‐19 in the entire UK Biobank cohort (n = 473,139). RESULTS: RA, but not gout, was associated with COVID‐19 diagnosis in analysis A. Neither RA nor gout was associated with risk of death in the group diagnosed with COVID‐19 in analysis B. However, RA was associated with risk of death related to COVID‐19 by using the UK Biobank cohort in analysis C, independent of comorbidities and other measured risk factors (odds ratio [OR] 1.9; 95% confidence interval CI 1.2–3.0). Gout was not associated with death related to COVID‐19 in the same UK Biobank analysis (OR 1.2; 95% CI 0.8–1.7). CONCLUSION: RA is a risk factor for death from COVID‐19 by using the UK Biobank cohort. These findings require replication in larger data sets that also allow for inclusion of a wider range of factors.