Over 40% COVID Patients At High Risk Of Acquiring Autoimmune Disease: Study

London: COVID-19 may no longer be greatly disrupting people’s lives and economies around the world, but for those who had contracted the deadly virus, there’s something to worry about.

A recent study led by German researchers found that more than 40% of patients who were down with the COVID-19 disease are at an increased risk of developing autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.

According to the study, published in preprint site Medrxiv and not peer-reviewed yet, there is a 42.63% likelihood of people who had suffered from COVID of newly acquiring autoimmunity — in about 3 to 15 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection.

For those with any pre-existing autoimmune disease who had COVID, there was a 23% chance of being diagnosed with another autoimmune disease.

The patients suffered risk from the commonly known autoimmune disorders such as Hashimoto thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, or Sjoegren syndrome

“SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with an increased risk of developing new-onset autoimmune diseases after the acute phase of infection,” Falko Tesch from Dresden University Hospital has said in the paper.

The researchers included 641,704 COVID patients in their study.

The findings also showed that the incidence rates of any autoimmune disease were higher among women than men, among older than younger people and among those without pre-existing autoimmune disease.

The study also found a higher incidence rate for a new-onset autoimmune disease in children and adolescents than in adults with/without COVID.

The researchers concluded that more epidemiologic, clinical and basic science were needed to determine whether SARS-CoV-2 infection triggers autoimmune disease, identify underlying mechanisms and persons at risk, and investigate effective means of prevention or early treatment.

What Is Autoimmune Disease?

Autoimmune disease results from the inability of the body’s natural defence system to spot the difference between the person’s own cells and foreign cells, causing the body to mistakenly attack normal cells.

There are more than 80 types of autoimmune diseases that affect a wide range of body parts.