Specialists from the United States showed that the reception of most immunosuppressants – the overwhelming effect of the immune system of drugs – does not increase the risk of severe COVID-19 or death from infection. The exception was only one drug – Rituximab. The article of scientists was published in the magazine The Lancet Rheumatology.
At the beginning of the pandemic it was believed that people taking immunosuppressants are in a group of increased risk. However, it turned out that a significant part of the damage to the tissues of organs during severe COVID-19 was not directly directly by the virus, but excessively strong immune responses. Therefore, some doctors even began to apply immunosuppressants with coronavirus infection. However, it remained unclear, increases or lowers the risk of heavy COVID-19 long-term use of these common preparations.
The team of American scientists under the leadership of specialists from Jones Hopkins University analyzed the data of electronic medical maps of 222.5 thousand patients hospitalized with COVID-19 from January 2020 to June 2021. More than 16 thousand of them were made to hospitalization immunosuppressants. Researchers divided 303 drugs studied on 17 classes. None of them turned out to be associated with an increased risk of artificial ventilation of lung patient – a sign of severe coronavirus infection.
The exception was only one drug – rituximab. These are chimeric monoclonal antibodies, the purpose of which are B-cells, and which are used in serious medical conditions – cancer or autoimmune diseases – when other funds did not have the effect. Its applications were associated with a significant increase in the risk of death. For those who took it 153 patients with cancer, the risk of death was greater than twice, and for 100 patients with rheumatic diseases – by 72 percent.