Gout, rheumatoid arthritis and the risk of death from COVID-19: an analysis of the UK Biobank

Topless, R.; Phipps-Green, A.; Leask, M.; Dalbeth, N.; Stamp, L.; Robinson, P.; Merriman, T.

Objectives To assess whether gout and / or rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are risk factors for coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) diagnosis. To assess whether gout and / or RA are risk factors for death from COVID-19. Methods We used data from the UK Biobank. Multivariate-adjusted logistic regression was employed in the following analyses. Analysis A: to test for association between gout or RA and COVID-19 diagnosis in a population-based cohort (n=473,139). Analysis B: to test for association between gout or RA and death from COVID-19 in a case-control cohort of people who died or survived with COVID-19 (n=2,073). Analysis C: to test for association with gout or RA and death from COVID-19 in a population-based cohort (n=473,139) Results Neither RA nor gout associated with COVID-19 diagnosis in analysis A, nor did RA or gout associate with risk of death in the COVID-19-diagnosed group in analysis B. However RA associated with risk of death from COVID-19 using the population-based cohort in analysis C independent of comorbidities and other measured risk factors (OR=1.8 [95% CI 1.2 ; 2.7]). Gout was not associated with death from COVID-19 in the same population-based analysis (OR=1.2 [95% CI 0.9 ; 1.7]). Conclusions RA and gout are not risk factors for COVID-19-diagnosis. However RA, but not gout, is a risk factor for death from COVID-19 in a population-based analysis using the UK Biobank. These findings require replication in larger data sets that also allow inclusion of a wider range of factors.