Complete persistent remission of rheumatoid arthritis after COVID-19 infection - A rare case and literature review

<a href="https://www.vecteezy.com/free-photos">Free Stock photos by Vecteezy</a>
Submitted: January 7, 2022
Accepted: June 6, 2022
Published: June 8, 2022
Abstract Views: 1486
PDF: 360
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

A 55-year-old man was admitted to a hospital in Northeast India with fever, cough and breathlessness and was diagnosed with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. He was a known case of seropositive, erosive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and was taking disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs). The patient was treated with remdesivir, heparin and a short course of corticosteroids for COVID-19 pneumonia. With the improvement of COVID-19 pneumonia, the patient also noticed a marked improvement in his joint symptoms despite not taking any DMARDs for RA. The temporal relationship between the time of disappearance of all signs and symptoms of RA within a few days after COVID-19 pneumonia and maintenance of RA remission for over one year of follow up to date suggests that COVID-19 likely caused the remission of RA. This case highlights the need for larger studies to understand the COVID-19 effects on RA remission and their potential link if any. However, the evidence of worse outcome with COVID-19 in immunosuppression which is common in RA cannot be overlooked.

Dimensions

Altmetric

PlumX Metrics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations

Schett G, Manger B, Simon D, Caporali R. COVID-19 revisiting inflammatory pathways of arthritis. Nat Revi Rheumatol 2020;16:465-70. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41584-020-0451-z
Rocha APD, Atallah ÁN, Pinto ACPN, et al. COVID-19 and patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases undergoing pharmacological treatments: a rapid living systematic review. Sao Paulo Med J 2020;138:515-20. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/1516-3180.2020.0421.r2.10092020
Alzahrani ZA, Alghamdi KA, Almaqati AS. Clinical characteristics and outcome of COVID-19 in patients with rheumatic diseases. Rheumatol Int 2021;41:1097-103. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-021-04857-9
Agarwal V, Singh R, Chauhan S. Remission of rheumatoid arthritis after acute disseminated varicella-zoster infection. Clin Rheumatol 2007;26:779-80. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-005-0194-x
Sollini M, Gelardi F, Carlo-Stella C, Chiti A. Complete remission of follicular lymphoma after SARS-CoV-2 infection: from the "flare phenomenon" to the "abscopal effect". Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 2021;48:2652-4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-021-05275-6
Saricaoglu EM, Hasanoglu I, Guner R. The first reactive arthritis case associated with COVID-19. J Med Virol 2021;93:192-3. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jmv.26296
Ono K, Kishimoto M, Shimasaki T, et al. Reactive arthritis after COVID-19 infection. RMD Open 2020;6:e001350. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/rmdopen-2020-001350
Jali I. Reactive arthritis after COVID-19 infection. Cureus 2020;12:e11761. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.11761
Perrot L, Hemon M, Busnel JM, et al. First flare of ACPA-positive rheumatoid arthritis after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Lancet Rheumatol 2021;3:e6-e8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2665-9913(20)30396-9
Coath FL, Mackay J, Gaffney JK. Axial presentation of reactive arthritis secondary to COVID-19 infection. Rheumatology (Oxford) 2021;60:e232-e3. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/keab009
Rauber S, Luber M, Weber S, et al. Resolution of inflammation by interleukin-9-producing type 2 innate lymphoid cells. Nat Med 2017;23:938-44. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.4373
Tang KT, Hsu BC, Chen DY. Autoimmune and rheumatic manifestations associated with COVID-19 in adults: An updated systematic review. Front Immunol 2021;12:645013. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.645013
Ehrenfeld M, Tincani A, Andreoli L, et al. Covid-19 and autoimmunity. Autoimmun Rev 2020;19:102597. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autrev.2020.102597
Ajeganova S, Huizinga T. Sustained remission in rheumatoid arthritis: latest evidence and clinical considerations. Ther Adv Musculoskelet Dis 2017;9:249-62. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1759720X17720366
George LJ, Philip AM, John KJ, et al. A review of the presentation and outcome of sarcoidosis in coronavirus disease 2019. J Clin Transl Res 2021;7:657-65.

How to Cite

Barman, Bhupen, Arvind Nune, Pranav Ish, Pranjal Phukan, Donboklang Lynser, and Hem Raj Sapkota. 2022. “Complete Persistent Remission of Rheumatoid Arthritis After COVID-19 Infection - A Rare Case and Literature Review”. Monaldi Archives for Chest Disease 93 (1). https://doi.org/10.4081/monaldi.2022.2195.

Similar Articles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.