Researchers evaluated data on the incidence of autoimmune illnesses in the post-acute coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) phase in a recent publication published in Nature Reviews Rheumatology News and views.

A retrospective study was conducted from January 31, 2020, to June 30, 2021, using the Clinical Practise Research Datalink Aurum database, which contained data from 458,147 and 1,818,929 SARS-CoV-2-infected and uninfected persons living in England, respectively.

According to a study published, COVID-19 was substantially connected to the occurrence of inflammatory bowel illness, psoriasis, and type 1 diabetes.

Results showed that COVID-19 patients were 43.0% more likely to develop autoimmune disorders within three to 15.0 months of infection compared to approximately one million age- and sex-matched uninfected persons.

Vasculitis has the highest incidence rate ratio (IRR) among autoimmune illnesses. Furthermore, among those with a history of autoimmune disorders, COVID-19 was associated with a 23.0% increased risk of another autoimmune disease.

Most autoimmune disorders were not COVID-19-specific in general; however, an essential element of SARS-CoV-2 infection was a significant increase in the frequency and range of autoimmune diseases following acute COVID-19.

According to the review findings, COVID-19 increases the risk of autoimmune illness. A temporal association with COVID-19 history provides credible and persuasive evidence that COVID-19 is related to an increased risk of developing an autoimmune disease.

Experts believe that additional research should be conducted to better understand the genetic and epigenetic associations and the associated pathophysiology. Additional transcriptome pandemics should be investigated to gather genomic markers and host responses to viral triggers.

 (Source:  https://www.news-medical.net/news/20230417/Is-there-an-association-between-COVID-19-and-the-risk-of-developing-an-autoimmune-disease.aspx)