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Correspondence
Correspondence on ‘Onset of rheumatoid arthritis after COVID-19: coincidence or connected?’
  1. Rashmi Roongta,
  2. Arghya Chattopadhyay,
  3. Alakendu Ghosh
  1. Department of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
  1. Correspondence to Dr Arghya Chattopadhyay, Department of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, WB 160012, India; dr.a.chattopadhyay{at}gmail.com

https://doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2021-220479

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    We read with great interest the letter by Derksen et al on ‘Onset of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) after COVID-19: coincidence or connected?’ in which they have conducted serology studies on 61 patients, 5 weeks after COVID-19 infection and found no increase in the incidence of anti-citrullinated cyclic peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies.1 Also, they found that the clinical and autoantibody characteristics of three patients from another cohort with seroconversion were similar to the regular patients with RA. Based on this, they have proposed that RA after COVID-19 may be a coincidence rather than connected.

    Triggering of autoimmunity by severe COVID-19 infection has been proposed2 and shown by demonstration of various autoantibodies, mainly antinuclear antibodies, antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies and antiphospholipid antibodies (APLA), in the sera of such patients.3 4 Autoimmune diseases like lupus, Kawasaki disease, systemic vasculitis, APLA syndrome and reactive arthritis have been reported post COVID-19.3 Multiple arthritic manifestations of COVID-19 infection have been reported including a few cases of reactive arthritis5 6 and a few of seropositive RA.1 7 8 However, information on arthritis-related antibodies like …

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors RR collected patient data and materials, wrote the original draft and conducted the literature search. AC collected patient data and materials, reviewed and edited the manuscript. AG reviewed and edited 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.

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

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