Impact of COVID 19 pandemic on patients with SLE: results of a large multicentric survey from India

We have read the recent report by Mathian et al with great interest where they described the clinical course of COVID-19 in 17 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).1 The COVID-19 pandemic has caught the attention of the rheumatology fraternity due to a variety of reasons, such as the in vitro inhibition of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by hydroxychloroquine (HCQ),2 use of tocilizumab in the treatment of cytokine storm3 and concerns regarding cardiac toxicity due to HCQ.4 Patients with SLE are routinely prescribed HCQ and other immunosuppressants. The clinical picture of COVID-19 (such as pneumonia, cardiac injury, renal injury, venous thrombosis and septic shock) in patients with SLE on long-term HCQ described by Mathian et al intrigued the global rheumatology community.1 We assessed the impact of the pandemic on Indian patients with SLE in a larger multicentric survey. We expected that differences in disease expression, ethnicity and treatment may possibly alter the impact of the pandemic in contrast to the aforementioned study. We included patients who had visited their …