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  • Response to: ‘Correspondence on ‘What comes after the lockdown? Clustering of ANCA-associated vasculitis: single-centre observation of a spatiotemporal pattern’’ by Hakroush and Tampe

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Correspondence response
Response to: ‘Correspondence on ‘What comes after the lockdown? Clustering of ANCA-associated vasculitis: single-centre observation of a spatiotemporal pattern’’ by Hakroush and Tampe
  1. Philipp Gauckler,
  2. Andreas Kronbichler
  1. Department of Internal Medicine IV, Nephrology and Hypertension, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
  1. Correspondence to Dr Andreas Kronbichler, Internal Medicine IV, Nephrology and Hypertension, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria; andreas.kronbichler{at}i-med.ac.at

https://doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-219696

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    In our previous report on anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) during current COVID-19 pandemic, we described our observation of both an incidence-shift with a post-lockdown clustering and an increased incidence rate of AAV diagnoses between February and August 2020 compared with previous years.1

    In correspondence to our article, Hakroush et al observed a similar incidence-shift with a post-lockdown increase of AAV diagnoses at their centre. This shift affected patients with less severe symptoms but not critically ill patients requiring intensive-care or intermediate-care treatment. In detail, four patients presented with biopsy-confirmed AAV in the stretch of April–June 2019 (one normal ward, three intensive/immediate care unit), while only one diagnosis was made in the same period in 2020.2 We agree that containment measures such as a lockdown and reduced attendance of hospitals due to fear of infection may delay diagnosis of less-severely affected patients. In contrast to the observations by Hakroush et al, our patients with new diagnosis and relapse were diagnosed either on the normal ward or in an outpatient setting. Estimation of the exact diagnostic delay in our cohort …

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    Footnotes

    • Handling editor Josef S Smolen

    • Twitter @AKronbichler

    • Correction notice This article has been corrected since it published Online First. The provenance and peer review statement has been included.

    • Contributors PG wrote the first draft of the manuscript. AK revised 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.

    • Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.

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