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Letter
Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on patients with large-vessel vasculitis in Italy: a monocentric survey
  1. Alessandro Tomelleri,
  2. Silvia Sartorelli,
  3. Corrado Campochiaro,
  4. Elena Marina Baldissera,
  5. Lorenzo Dagna
  1. Unit of Immunology, Rheumatology, Allergy and Rare Diseases, IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital - Vita Salute San Raffaele University, Milano, Lombardia, Italy
  1. Correspondence to Dr Corrado Campochiaro, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, School of Medicine; Unit of Immunology, Rheumatology, Allergy and Rare Diseases, San Raffaele Hospital, Milano 20132, Italy; campochiaro.corrado{at}hsr.it

https://doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-217600

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    Severe infections represent one of the major complications of immunosuppressive therapy.1 Great concern among rheumatologists has consequently raised by the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) disease 2019 (COVID-19).2 3 Italy has represented the European epicentre of this global pandemic, with more than 140 000 confirmed cases as of 11 April 2020.4

    We evaluated the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection among patients with large-vessel vasculitis (LVV) followed up at our LVV-Clinic in Milan, Lombardy, the Italian region with the highest rate of SARS-CoV-2 infections.5 A phone survey was conducted among these patients between 2 and 10 April 2020, 6 weeks after the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy. The survey consisted of the following questions: (1) Have you been diagnosed with COVID-19? (2) Since the beginning of COVID-19 outbreak, have you experienced one of the following symptoms: sore throat, non-productive cough, fever >37.5°C, reduced smelling or tasting, flu-like symptoms? (3) Have you been in contact with a COVID-19 patient? (4) Have you regularly been taking your LVV medications? …

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    Footnotes

    • Handling editor Josef S Smolen

    • Contributors AT, SS and CC contributed to the design of the project, collection, interpretation and analysis of the data, and writing of the manuscript. EMB contributed to the collection and interpretation of the data and review of the manuscript. LD contributed to the interpretation of the data and review of the manuscript.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.